14 
TREATMENT OF COLIC. 
and have every reason to speak highly of the effect. This is 
repeated in two hours, if ineffectual. Where there is evi¬ 
dently a constipated state of tlie bowels, I order Aloes 5iv or 
5v, in a ball or solution, in addition to the drench. When a 
Case is verging on enteritis, 1 would not dream of giving aloes, 
nor would I give ether. Enemas of warm water I use in 
every case, but of the temperature of about 100°, for in 
passing through the syringe, and from exposure to the air, 
a few degrees of heat are lost before entering the rectum. 
Mr. Garngee advocates a temperature of 80°. Is it not in¬ 
advisable in spasmodic colic to introduce water at a lower 
heat than that of the blood? ^‘Back-raking’^ is in appear¬ 
ance barbarous, and I seldom have recourse to it; but still 
there are cases where it does good, and we should then sacri¬ 
fice appearances to utility. If the rectum be full of hard, 
dry pellets of excrementitious matter, enemas cannot be pro¬ 
ductive of such good results as we desire, and paj'ticularly if 
the enema be given with a “funnel tube,” and the water 
allowed to gravitate by its own natural tendency. The 
emptying of the rectum must afford relief to the horse, if 
done gently and without brute force. 
Mr. Garngee complains of the glyster syringes in general 
use being ill adapted for the purpose. The syringe which 1 
use, namely, Read’s, is an admirable one, if properly managed ; 
at least, I think so, and it is but fair to the inventor to say 
this much in its favour. 
With reference to the use of external agents, I can speak very 
strongly in their favour. I can call to mind numerous cases of 
colic, of a severe type, in which the relief afforded by the appli¬ 
cation of a strong mustard poultice was most marked and un¬ 
questionable. Instead, however, of having the mustard simply 
rubbed over the abdomen, I have a paste made of it with 
vinegar, spread upon a piece of thick brown paper, about 
two feet square; this is placed upon the belly, and kept in 
close contact with it for forty or forty-five minutes by means of 
a horse-cloth and long flannel bandage, the latter going round 
the horse’s body many times, and binding the plaster tightly 
to the skin at each fold. The beneficial effect of this I have 
over and over again proved. 
On the subjeet of bleeding I am quite of Mr. Gamgee’s 
opinion. As a general rule, bloodletting in colic is not only 
uncalled for, but absolutely injurious. Now and then cases 
present themselves in which I abstract a moderate quantity of 
blood, but they are few and far between, not more than one 
in about two hundred; in fact, when venesection becomes 
necessary, 1 look upon the case as having passed beyond the 
