OBSERVATlONfii ON STERCORAL COLIC. o61 
obstacle to the passage of the alimentary matter, and the symp¬ 
toms e.^tend not beyond slight and transient colic ; and, in 
general, the ditferent organic functions do not appear to be 
sensibly altered. 
It is oidinarily in the lower part of the digested tube, and 
oftenest in the tioating irregular portion of the colon, or the be¬ 
ginning of the rectum, that stercoral concretions are found. 
The symptoms of stercoral concretions do not present any 
constant or regular march ; for, under certain circumstances, a 
few days suffice for the disease to reach the greatest degree of 
intensity. This depends, without doubt, on the age, the state of 
irritability of the patient, the greater or less absolute volume of 
the concretion, and the ditferent substances which have been 
administered to the animals, and that too frequently, before the 
veterinary surgeon is consulted. In general, the colic is less 
violent than in most other species of that disease. We rarely 
observe any ungovernable convulsive movements. The animal 
does not begin to struggle in any remarkable manner, until the 
concretion has acquired sufficient volume to press upon and to 
irritate the coats of the intestine. It is then that he looks 
anxiously at his belly, and points out the very seat of the evil, 
and that he lies down and rises up continually, but without roll¬ 
ing or beating himself about. The appetite, although diminish¬ 
ed, yet remains ; but the disease proceeding, the animal becomes 
dispirited and listless; his eyes are dull, and seem as if they 
were buried in the orbits; he groans every now and then; the 
pulse is small; the flanks heave, and the belly swells. The 
disease still proceeding, the animal becomes more dispirited ; 
there is fever; the pulse is concentrated, and soon becomes im¬ 
perceptible. An extraordinary enlargement of the belly; respi¬ 
ration exceedingly laborious; general or partial sw eats, w'hether 
cold or hot; the eyes w’eeping ; the pupils dilated; the stagger¬ 
ing manner in which the animal walks or even stands; the po¬ 
sition which he assumes, seeming to sit upon his haunches with 
the fore legs stretched out, and the head elevated ; these are the 
precursors of approaching death. 
The introduction of the hand into the rectum w'ill demonstrate 
the existence of the stercoral concretion, w hich will be found in 
the pelvic curvature of the great colon, or the last cells of its 
floating portion. 
The duration of stercoral colic is not more than seven or eight 
days. By employing in time an energetic treatment, we may 
sometimes succeed in promptly removing the cause; but some 
animals arc carried offi in two or three days by unscientific 
treatment. 
