384 
E. MINK. 
and down and walking around his stall continuously for thirty-three 
hours, when all at once his pain subsided, his bowels began to purge 
water and almost entire whole oats. Next day laminitic congestion 
supervened, which also in due time disappeared, and the patient made 
a complete recovery. 
Now, I certainly at one time thought I would lose the patient, and 
felt sure that inflammation existed. But the sequel was finally suffi¬ 
cient to satisfy me that this opinion was a mistaken one. In this case, 
I think the aloes were proper as they assisted in removing the cause of 
his trouble. Any course of treatment that would have arrested the 
peristaltic action of the bowels would have been improper and, perhaps, 
caused death by exhaustion of the vital powers. This is only one in¬ 
stance of many similar cases, though one of the most severe. 
It has been my practice to make an autopsy in nearly every fatal 
case of bowel difficulty I have treated. And nearly every one has 
shown some lesion or condition that treatment could ndt have over¬ 
come. Those that died with symptoms of flatulent colic either reveal¬ 
ed ruptured diaphragm or stomach, or a twisting of the colon causing 
complete occlusion. Those that were not attended with tympanitis 
revealed some lesion or other in nearly every case, whereby the small 
intestines were strangulated. I will refer in a general way to a few 
cases. 
In August, 1866, was called to see a colt nearly three years old, 
suffering severe abdominal pain with other symptoms said to generally 
characterize enteritis, for which he was treated. Died in twenty-four 
hours from the time he was first taken sick. An autopsy revealed a 
small rupture of the diaphragm, through which eight feet of the small 
intestines had escaped and were completely strangulated, and the por¬ 
tion shut off by the stricture were in a sphacelated condition. 
In the winter of 1859, was called to attend a three year old colt that 
the day previous had been placed in a bitting rig, and was quite restive 
during his restraining, rearing up, etc. He was released at night., and 
placed in his stall. In a short time thereafter he was heard rolling, kick¬ 
ing, and found suffering great pain. I attended him the next morning. 
The first thing that attracted my attention was an unusual hollowness 
of his flanks. He showed symptoms of approaching death. I expressed 
the opinion that he had rupture of the diaphragm, and that a large 
portion of the bowels had escaped into the thorax, judging from the 
appearance of his flanks. He soon died. An autopsy revealed my 
diagnosis correct, thirty-eight feet of the small intestines were in the 
