COLICS THROUGH INTESTINAL OCCLUSION. 173 



Symptoms. The symptoms of calculous colic are similar to 

 those of intestinal obstruction from alimentary stagnation. Calculi 

 are found in animals which do not experience any trouble that 

 would indicate their presence, these concretions remaining for quite 

 a long period, until one of them grows into the intestine itself. 

 At other times the calculi produce frequent colics of a periodic 

 character. During an attack we may observe intermissions or 

 abatements corresponding with the various stages of a calculus, or 

 with the passage of several calculi together into a narrow portion 

 of the intestine. These symptoms are ordinarily more intense than 

 in colics from coprostasis. More frequently in the latter than in 

 the former type of colic we see rupture of the stomach or intestine, 

 and vomiting. The colics of calculi are also distinguished from 

 those due to accumulation of alimentary matters in one of the 

 intestinal reservoirs by their more rapid course — although their 

 duration may last quite a long time under certain circumstances — 

 and also by their more serious prognosis. 



Treatment. This is the same as that of coprostasis. In des- 

 perate cases laparotomy may be attempted. Félizet^ has practised 

 it with success. By incising the flank and the intestine he was 

 able to extract a calculus of the size of a child's head. Trasbot 

 has proposed to distend the intestine, and to facilitate the progress 

 of the calculus, by provoking an abundant escape of carbonic acid 

 gas by means of a mixture of bicarbonate of soda and tartaric 

 acid administered per rectum. 



3. COLICS DUE TO CHANGES OF RELATION OF THE INTESTINE: 



VOLVULUS. 



Changes of relation of the intestine generally consist of a volvulus 

 (rotation of the organ upon its axis), and are most frequently ob- 

 served upon the colon and small intestine. The changes of relation 

 of the caecum are rather inflections and elbow formations, created 

 by the displacement of the point backward and downward, or of 

 the base upward and forward. Volvulus of the rectum is very 

 rare. The knots are formed when the loops of the small intestine 

 become entwined with other parts of the same viscera, or of the 

 colon or rectum. The omentum may also surround and smother 

 the small intestine. Hernias observed at the natural or accidental 



1 Félizet: Revue Vet., 1877. 



