630 
OBSERVATIONS ON COLIC. 
must be constantly on the watch ; for when the acute stage once 
commences, its progress is so rapid that minutes become of import- 
ance : therefore, I am sensitive of any interference with my wishes; 
feeling the responsibility, and knowing how limited are the powers 
at my command, I am always in dread of something starting up 
which I cannot interpret or may not be able to control. 
No one came to call me, and, anticipating my forebodings were 
groundless, I walked out at four o’clock to assure myself that 
every thing was as I hoped. The very reverse proved to be the 
fact. The horse was pawing, and his appearance denoted pain. 
All the symptoms were bad, but not violently so. Had I seen an 
animal for the first time as I then saw this, I should not have said 
there was much danger ; but it was the marked change which 
had commenced that made me fear. The animal was making 
occasional efforts to void its dung, and, thinking there might be 
something in the rectum, I introduced my hand. The intestine 
was empty, but to a sensible degree hot and dry. There was, 
however, no flinching upon pressure, and the pulse could scarcely 
be detected at the jaw. The heat was the only sign of inflamma- 
tion I could observe ; but there was the impactment, which had be- 
come less yielding, and had not moved. 
I immediately gave the following drink : — sulphuric ether, six 
ounces ; tincture of opium, four ounces ; tincture of aconite, one 
ounce ; camphor mixture, one pint. The horse having taken the 
drink without spilling much, I saw the proprietor, who proposed 
that the animal should be brought to another stable yet nearer to 
where I lived. To this I agreed ; for 1 hoped that the little exer- 
cise might quicken the purgative ; and it was impossible to con- 
jecture that a walk pf five hundred yards could do any injury. 
The day was rather damp than wet, but the animal was hooded 
and clothed, and gently led down to the stable alluded to. Hardly 
had he reached the place when a man came to say I must see the 
horse immediately. Without loss of time I obeyed the summons, 
and never did I witness such a virulent aggravation of disease in 
so short an interval. Tho breathing was quick, but laboured ; both 
inspiration and expiration being full and hard. There was no roll- 
ing or plunging, but the countenance and the turning of the head 
to the side too clearly told the suffering and the seat of the 
disease. 
I resolved to blister the abdomen, and for that purpose I em- 
ployed twelve ounces of the strongest solution of ammonia with six 
ounces of water. A towel was saturated with the liquid, which 
was placed along the belly, and over this a thick-horse cloth was 
held. The application was retained for a quarter of 'an hour, 
during which a profuse sweat broke out over the whole body, and 
