COLICS THROUGH INTESTINAL OCCLUSION. 175 



Diag-nosis. We can only formulate it when we have to deal 

 with a strangulated inguinal hernia, or with a volvulus of the rec- 

 tum; nevertheless, torsions of the colon and caecum may sometimes 

 be recognized. Failure of the remedies used, and especially of 

 injections of physostigmine, help to clear up the diagnosis. 



[A symptom which may be considered as almost diagnostic of 

 this condition is the continual up-and-down swinging of the head 

 and neck known as incensing; this, together with a peculiarly 

 drawn countenance, should be given special significance from a 

 diagnostic point of view. — w. L. z.] 



Treatment. Treatment is rarely effective, except in strangu- 

 lated, inguinal, umbilical, or abdominal hernias. These latter are 

 reduced either by taxis or by a regular surgical operation. By 

 manipulation through the rectum we may sometimes destroy the 

 the connective-tissue adhesions producing the strangulation. Some 

 success has been obtained by placing the animal in different posi- 

 tions more or less unusual ; also by rolling or making them ascend 

 or descend a steep hill, etc. Evacuants and mercury have been 

 used, but almost always unsuccessfully. Laparotomy and reduc- 

 tion of the accident constitute a dernier ressort in cases in which the 

 diagnosis is established with enough certainty. 



4. COLICS DUE TO INVAGINATION. 



Nature. Invagination consists in the penetration of a portion 

 of the intestine into that which is immediately next to it, either 

 above or below. Most frequently it is formed by the small intes- 

 tine being invaginated into the csecum, and this upon a considerable 

 scale, or by the same organ being invaginated in itself, more rarely 

 by the entire csecum being engaged in the colon (Leblanc, Caussé, 

 Hermkes, Colin, Cartwright, Bagge, Stohrer, Y. Ow, etc. We 

 meet with quite a number of cases where the point of the csecum 

 is engaged in the median portion of this bowel. The invagina- 

 tion seems to be caused by paralysis of the peripheral portion of 

 the intestine, of the invaginating segment, or by violent peristaltic 

 movements, which produce engagement of the central portion of 

 the invaginated segment. 



Symptoms. They are similar to those produced by the changed 

 relations of these organs, but ordinarily they persist for a longer 

 time, for in invagination the whole lumen of the intestine is not 

 necessarily obstructed. In a case observed by Y. Ow, diarrhea 



