SPECIAL COLICS. 



155 



q. s. ; aloes, 30 grammes, in a bolus with green soap ; also calomel 

 4 to 8 grammes), castor oil in full dose (100 to 500 grammes), and, 

 in very serious cases, croton oil (15 to 20 drops in a mucilaginous 

 decoction : these are the medicines generally used in the treatment 

 of colics. 



A well-known fact, and one which has been frequently mentioned 

 in the annual reports of the Munich school, is that colics are cured 

 in a great number of cases without any intervention. Whilst this 

 fact is given from observation, yet we are not to conclude that most 

 of these affections ought to be treated on the expectant plan. 



Some authors recommend certain remedies as specifics, to the 

 exclusion of all others. Lemke strongly advises morphine, Adam 

 extols cold-water injections, and Luelfing advocates the mixture 

 of aloes, sulphate of soda, and fenugreek. All the so-called 

 specific means are inefficient. We shall see in the following 

 sections that the different varieties of colic require special treat- 

 ments. 



The remedies which are used should be administered preferably 

 in the shape of an electuary or bolus. Drinks are very dangerous 

 when in the hands of unskilled persons (producing pneumonia from 

 foreign bodies). It is wise to use them as little as possible, and to 

 be satisfied with croton-oil emulsions. 



SPECIAL COLICS. 



At different periods the attempt has been made to distinguish a 

 certain number of varieties in colics, by taking as a basis either the 

 causes which produce these troubles or the nature of the process 

 by which they are characterized. Thus the older authors have 

 described several kinds of colics. Spinola rejects all the different 

 proposed divisions, under the pretext of not being practical enough ; 

 he is satisfied to make a synthetic study of colics under the title of 

 Constipation. But if the question of the differential diagnosis of 

 these affections is yet one of the most obscure in veterinary path- 

 ology, we must admit that a good classification established in this 

 chaos may serve as a guide to the practitioner, and permit him to 

 formulate more rational therapeutic indications, also to institute 

 special treatment more appropriate to the morbid conditions which 

 may come under his observation. 



We shall lay aside all the more or less arbitrary divisions adopted 



