TREATMENT OF COLIC. 13 
cases, is that very few recover, I having found the intestine 
invariably in a state of gangrene. 
He would, indeed, be a bold practitioner who would operate 
on a valuable entire horse, admitted for a supposed case of 
colic, and proceed at once to cut into the hernial sac, or 
rather that which exists merely in imagination, and when, to 
his dismay, he will often find no hernia existing; there¬ 
by depriving the horse of his genital organs, thus rendering 
him useless as a sire, as well as risking his loss by tetanus. 
, This subject is one that presents a wide field for inquiry. 
ON THE TREATMENT OF COLIC. 
By Argus.^’ 
• 
In the Edinburgh Veterinary Review for September there is 
a long article by Mr. Joseph Gamgee, criticising the measures 
usually adopted in the treatment of colic in the horse, and 
explaining those which he has recourse to in such cases. 
With all due deference for the long experience of Mr. 
Gamgee, I must confess that I differ with him. Cases of 
colic are very common here in India, and 1 necessarily treat 
a large number of them. During the rainy season I have 
had as many as twenty-five admitted into hospital in a week. 
I have, therefore, some right to offer an opinion on the 
subject. 
Mr. Gamgee says he treats all cases of colic according to 
one system—at least, this is what I infer from the whole 
tenour of his article—and that treatmenCconsists in the admi- 
w 
nistration of a simple aperient and the use of glysters. He 
condemns the employment of tincture of opium, ether, &c., 
and the external use of stimulants. Now, surely this method 
cannot be applicable to every case of colic ! It may doubtless 
answer in some, perhaps many; but I should be very sorry 
to rely solely upon it in all. I frequently administer aloes, 
but cases often present themselves in which it would be inju¬ 
dicious to use this drug, if not absolutely dangerous. In 
very simple cases a ball of camphor and ginger is all that is 
required to set the animal right. Why, then, should we give 
from five to eight drachms of aloes ? In the majority of 
cases I give a drench of— 
Castor or Linseed Oil, ^vij ; 
Tinct. Opii, ^iss; 
jRther. Sulpli., ; 
