472 
W. L. WILLIAMS. 
patient utterly uncontrollable and dangerous to approach, 
and it was only with the greatest difficulty that chloroform 
was administered and a check placed upon a very serious 
looking case of opium poisoning. 
So while we commend morphine in spasmodic colic we 
caution judgment. Owing to the generally empty condition 
of the digestive canal, purgatives are uncalled for, and, as 
already stated, should on no account be given if opium has 
been employed to relieve the pain. 
Cannabis indica is preferred to morphine by many in these 
cases, and it certainly presents some points of superiority. 
Hot fomentations and stimulating applications to the ab¬ 
domen are probably of more service in these than in other 
colics. 
Colic due to external mechanical pressure, such as being 
accidentally or intentionally cast in a cramped attitude, calls 
for little remark as to treatment beyond the very obvious 
suggestion to place the animal in a comfortable position. 
The fact that colics do arise from casting should suggest care 
in our methods to avoid cramping the limbs and body as far 
as possible, especially for operations of long duration. We 
should be careful, too, that colic patients do not have their 
malady aggravated by being left cast in an uncomfortable 
position, and also we should bear in mind that probably a 
not insignificant number of colics are due primarily to ill fit¬ 
ting, uncomfortable harness and improper hitching, by which 
the body is thrown in a strained position for a long period. 
In cases where colic may be traced to the presence of para¬ 
sites in the digestive canal we generally find coincident de¬ 
bility, thus suggesting stimulants, carminatives and bitter 
tonics, combined with vermifuges, which latter should be 
followed by an aperient, preferably of oil, while in some 
cases, where the patient’s strength will permit, a brisk purga¬ 
tive may be substituted with advantage. 
The presence of calculi in the digestive canal are rarely 
diagnosed during life. They are then to be treated, if not by 
surgical interference, by oleaginous aperients and, if available, 
by warm enemata, in order to soften the faecal matter and re- * 
