830 
TWIST OR ROTATION OF THE COLON. 
pour l’espece bovine,” Guittard describes it as quite an everyday affair. 
Bleeding, after cutting through the bowel or mesentery, can be stopped 
by torsion, or the vessels may be ligatured with sterilised material. 
Great difficulty is caused by the continual passage of ingesta through the 
anterior section of bowel, which accordingly should be compressed by 
bowel clamps, or lightly ligatured during operation. After removing the 
invaginated portion, the ends of the bowel are brought together by the 
bowel stitch, the abdominal walls and skin are sutured each to each, and 
the wound antiseptically treated. 
Taccoen operated on two cows, from one of which he removed 10 inches of 
bowel, but had no bad consequences. Thirty-five days later the external 
wound was healed, and, on slaughter, the incision in the bowel was found to 
be completely cicatrised. In a second case, an incurable anus preternaturalis 
formed, but did not impair the animal’s health. 
Riedinger treated, during 1890, ten cases of invagination of the bowel in 
oxen. Seven animals had to be slaughtered on account of the operation being 
done too late; in the other three, laparotomy was carried out and the invagi¬ 
nation reduced. The portion of bowel was cleansed with -1 per cent, of 
sublimate solution, replaced, and the wound closed with button sutures. 
After-treatment consisted in giving purgatives. Five to six hours after 
operation, action of the bowels occurred. In one of the animals peritonitis 
occurred five days after operation, rendering slaughter necessary; the other 
two recovered in fourteen days. 
In dogs laparotomy can be performed in the linea alba and the 
invagination reduced or the bowel resected as above described. In the 
latter case Murphy’s button can be used. 
Y.—TWIST OR ROTATION OF THE COLON IN 
HORSES. 
At the Natural Science Congress at Bremen in 1890, Jelkmann first 
indicated the possibility of recognising during life and of surgically 
treating torsion of the colon, which not infrequently occurs in horses, 
and always leads to death. The importance of this question is shown by 
the constant occurrence of the disease. According to Jelkmann, 70 out 
of every 192 horses dying of colic in Munich had twist or displacement 
of the colon. Of 23 post-mortems after colic, made in the year 1887-8, 
twist of the colon was found in 10; Jelkmann, therefore, concludes that 
the disease occurs most frequently in Middle and South Germany, which 
may perhaps be referred to the heavy breed of the horses. According to 
the statistics given by the Veterinary Sanitary Reports of the Prussian 
army, in 1886, 13 horses ; in 1887, 27 horses; in 1888, 37 horses ; and 
in 1889, as many as 84 horses died from displacement or twist of the 
colon. Great credit must be given to Jelkmann for having directed 
attention to this point, and, though his statements have in certain 
