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A FEW REMARKS ON COLICKY COMPLAINTS. 
never found this circumstance to interfere materially with them 
until very aged. The most general colour throughout Chili is 
dark bay and brown ; there are also a good many greys and duns, 
but few black. In Peru I have had and seen some excellent 
horses, capable of heavy work ; but I do not like them near so 
well as those of Chili, nor do I think the breed is any thing to 
compare with the latter ; they are quite different, and, generally 
speaking, have but one pace (ambling I think they call it), and are 
only fit for ladies and long journies. Salta, a city under the go- 
vernment of Buenos Ayres, is a celebrated place for horses, of 
which I have seen some very first-rate, and, being a nearer part 
(say Buenos Ayres), could be procured at less expence. 
A FEW REMARKS ON COLICKY COMPLAINTS. 
By Wm. Gavin, M.R.C.V.S. 
To the Editor of “ The Veterinarian .” 
If space will permit, allow me the favour of a few remarks on 
those diseases having colicky pains for their prominent symptoms, 
suggested by the perusal of your interesting case of constipation, 
in last month’s Journal. 
There is no class of diseases calling more imperatively for 
accuracy of diagnosis than these ; and this is a point which I am 
afraid veterinarians in general do not sufficiently estimate. To 
the public, cure is every thing (or rather, I should say, successful 
treatment as we treat diseases, and cure nothing). To the veteri- 
narian, diagnosis is, or ought to be, the same ; and if a solid re- 
putation is to be built on any thing, it will be on the habit of 
accurate diagnosis and prognosis. It is this which renders the 
veterinary profession so infinitely superior to the sister one, 
so far as difficulty is concerned ; and if the merits of the surgeon 
and veterinarian are to be measured by the difficulties they re- 
spectively overcome in the treatment of disease, the palm, without 
any hesitation, must be awarded to the latter. Unfortunately for 
us, Mr. Editor, the reward is measured by the value of human life 
as compared with that of the brute ; but this should not deter the 
veterinarian from constantly bearing in mind that the difficulties 
of his profession require he should be the superior man of the two. 
A most important aid in diagnosing diseases of the .intestines 
consists in an examination per rectum (and this, like pinching a 
horse’s foot, ought not to be trusted to another), not merely for the 
