DISEASES OF THE STOMACH AND INTESTINES. 
comparative tranquillity, and only destroying life after four 
days’ continuance, meanwhile, as usual, being quite unim¬ 
pressed by any remedial measures. 
During the treatment of numerous cases it will be sur¬ 
mised that various means have been employed in the en¬ 
deavour to lessen the pain, which seemed to be the most 
serious element in the disease ; chloroform promised, from its 
potency as an anaesthetic, to effect this at least, but instead 
its inhalation only increased the excitement; given inter¬ 
nally, and in the form of enema, it was equally powerless 
for good, although we avoided the increased excitement 
which attended the inhalation of the vapour. Aconite, con¬ 
tinued perseveringly, proved nearly inert, and ingenuity in 
vain sought an agent which might successfully oppose itself 
to the incessant suffering which seemed destined to continue 
with the life of the patient. In each succeeding case arose a 
new hope of finding something to account for the symptoms 
—a calculus, strangulation of the intestine, poison, some 
changes which should indicate the intensest of inflammation— 
but in no instance has anything been discovered that would 
lead the morbid anatomist to surmise that death had been 
caused through the medium of extreme internal agony. 
Du ring a chance conversation with a physician upon the 
subject, it was suggested that spinal irritation could alone 
account for the continuous pain ; the idea was sanctioned by 
the circumstance of the animal then spoken of having been 
in foal, and within a month of the time of parturition when 
fatally attacked. In such a case there would naturally be 
an exaltation of the sensibility of the nerves originating in 
the posterior part of the spinal column, which would actively 
transmit a morbid impression from the intestines to the 
spinal centres, and by reflex action back to the intestines 
again in a perpetually alternating current; so that a com¬ 
mon cause of intestinal spasm, such as a draught of cold 
water, might thus originate a morbid condition that the 
excited reflex functions would render permanent. Fortu¬ 
nately for the interests of science, an opportunity of testing 
the value of this theorv soon occurred. Another animal 
«/ 
in similar condition, within a month of the time of foaling, 
evidenced an attack by symptoms of continuous uneasiness. 
No time was given for the disease to be fully developed, the 
object being rather to save the animal than to establish the 
truth of a surmise ; therefore it is not intended to advance a 
solitary and even doubtful case as important evidence; 
nevertheless, it was clear that an irritation existed in the 
intestines; previous experience had shown the obstinate nature 
