SUBCUTANEOUS INJECTION OF MORPHIA. 3 77 
most astonishing results following the introduction of mor- 
phia preceded by general venesection. Further, in various 
forms of lameness, it acts more like a charm than anything 
I can think of. In some future communication I may give 
you particulars of interesting cases, but for the present I will 
confine my remarks to the treatment of colic and enteritis. 
What we want in cases of colic is something to deaden 
the pain and act as an antispasmodic. Subcutaneous injection 
of morphia does this instantly, and if the case be one of pure 
spasms of the intestine from deranged nerve-functions, and 
nothing more, we need no other remedy whatever after giving 
the morphia. I order all food to be kept away from the 
horse for six hours afterwards, and the horse to be kept 
warm and still. At the end of that time a little water with 
oatmeal in it may be given, and the animal fed as usual 
afterwards. 
In cases where we have flatulence after using the morphia, 
I give a pint or a quart of raw linseed oil containing a little 
chloric ether, and rub the abdomen with a rail having two 
folds ofhorserug wrapt round it. A man at each end of this 
contrivance can effect a good deal. By means of Gamgee's 
enema funnel (the best and simplest way I know of giving an 
enema) the rectum is quickly filled with warm water, which, 
by-the-bye, is frequently retained for half an hour, thus per- 
meating and fomenting the intestines. In cases of obstipa- 
tion causing colicy symptoms, after the morphia, I give the 
orthodox remedies, such as purging mass and linseed oil. 
The morphia here, by numbing the pain and preventing 
death from nervous exhaustion, allows time for the laxative 
to act or, at all events, to move on the obstruction. 
In enteritis, which more frequently follows or is a con- 
comitant of colic than a purely idiopathic affection, I have 
had equally satisfactory results as in colic by this method. 
When we get to a case, and find that a horse has begun with 
the “ gripes ” some time before, and has had the ordinary 
“ gripe draughts” with no very good results, as is often the 
case, we must first of all ascertain whether we have enteritis or 
not. When I find the pulse higher than sixty, mouth hot, 
visible mucous membranes injected, constant pain, & c., I 
bleed freely from the neck, and after the bleeding (not before, 
and not during the letting of blood) inject the morphia. It 
has increased effects under these circumstances. I was very 
much pleased, on reading last month's Veterinarian, to see 
that so excellent a pathologist as Professor Williams advocates 
keeping the inflamed parts as quiet as possible — indeed, we 
are not justified in requiring inflamed bowels to work, any 
