CASE OF VOLVULUS IN A HORSE. 927 
ears, and extremities cold. The rectum was found empty, 
and the mucous membrane dry. On the hand being passed 
onwards the animal groaned with pain, and seemed to strain 
with all his strength as if to force an evacuation. The 
visible mucous membranes were still of the normal colour, 
and no tympanitis visible. I now felt positive that some 
mechanical obstruction existed. The 01. Lini, Ol. Tereb., 
and Tr. Opii were repeated in the same doses as before. 
Towards midnight the animal became affected with alternate 
spasmodic twitchings of the muscles of the fore extremities, 
which were occasionally so violent that I thought he would 
have lost his footing and fallen to the ground. 
During the first half of the night two ten-drop doses of 
Aconite were given, and the.sinapism repeated. This was 
followed by the application of hot fomentations to the ab¬ 
domen, but without relief, as from the first he had not enjoyed 
a moment’s respite from the most agonizing pain. I now in¬ 
jected under the skin Morph. Acet. grs. iij, and gave the fol¬ 
lowing draught, 01. Lini, Chloroformi f^ij, Tr. Opii ^ij? Ol. 
Tereb. f^j. This relieved him from all pain for about two hours, 
during which time he stood perfectly calm and placid. At 
the end of this time, however, the symptoms reappeared 
in all their intensity. He became delirious, and at intervals 
would neigh as though he heard pleasurable sounds; at 
others he would prick his ears, snort, and tremble as if 
in the most deadly fear of approaching danger. Occa¬ 
sionally he ground and gnashed his teeth, his eyes rolling 
in their orbits in frenzied anguish. The body was bathed 
in cold perspiration, pulse smaller and over 100 in fre¬ 
quency. 
Having determined to relinquish all further treatment, at 
5 a.m. on the 28th I gave him his last dose, consisting of 
Calomel 5ss, Pulv. Opii 5j, et Camph. 5jss. At 8 a.m. he 
seemed free from pain, but the pulse was running down, and 
the superficial parts of the body were cold and clammy. No 
feculent matter nor urine had been passed from the begin¬ 
ning. I now thought that gangrene set in ; the animal 
had a dejected cadaverous look {facies Jiypocratica) and occa¬ 
sionally looked about as if seeking for something, but for 
what he did not know. 
At 11 a.m. he fell down in a state of syncope . All thought 
him dead, as he lay motionless, and to all outward percep¬ 
tion breathless and insensible. In about a quarter of an 
hour he revived, rose to his feet, and vomited through his 
nostrils all the medicine which had been given him, largely 
admixed with bile. This continued for some minutes. 
62 
XLV. 
