COLICS OF THE HORSE. 



151 



than those of the small intestine. Schiitze ^ has related 62 intestinal 

 rotations — performed according to , the axis of the organ ; 56 were 

 located upon the colon and only 13 upon the small intestine (1886- 

 1888). It is ordinarily the left portion of the colon which is the 

 seat of the rotation. At the Vienna school they have observed a 

 greater frequency of anomalies of position of the small intestine ; 

 out of 618 autopsies upon horses that had died of colic, 27 per 

 cent, showed this complication. Change of relations of the rectum 

 or of the stomach is very rare. The twisted portions of the 

 intestine are anemic, and they are pale in color, but on the level of 

 the folds the intestinal walls are tumefied and infiltrated with blood ; 

 the mucous membrane is dark red and softened ; the intestinal con- 

 tents are bloody ; the mesentery is the seat of hemorrhagic infarc- 

 tions. 



Accumulations of alimentary matters, of calculus and concretions, 

 accompanied by catarrhal inflammation, hemorrhage, diphtheria, or 

 necrosis of the mucous membrane, are also alterations which are 

 •quite frequently found. These irritating bodies are especially met 

 with either at the union of the duodenum with the csecum or of the 

 floating colon with the rectum, or, finally and most frequently, in 

 the caecum. The colon is sometimes strangulated by a portion of 

 the small intestine ; in certain cases this latter is twisted, interlaced, 

 and knotted; it has been found enclosed by the omentum, by lipoma, 

 or by some mesenteric bands. Certain parts of the intestine may 

 be compressed by others which are in a very distended condition. 

 -Strangury of the intestine in the inguinal canal has been seen, also 

 in an old fissure of the diaphragm, in Winslow's hiatus, in lacer- 

 ations of the omentum, in the mesentery, the broad ligament, or 

 between old peritoneal adhesions. Invaginations are not very rare; 

 the most frequent is that of the small intestine in the caecum. 



In a great number of animals we find a rupture of the stomach, 

 of the intestine, or of the diaphragm. Rupture of the stomach 

 generally takes place in the great curvature; it measures often 

 three-fourths of its length; it is almost always rectilinear and situ- 

 ated at the point where the serous membrane which covers the 

 stomach joins in order to form the omentum ; the edges of the rup- 

 ture are tumefied, infiltrated with blood, festooned, and irregular; 

 the solution of continuity is larger upon the serous than on the 



Schiitze (unpublished communication). 



