IN SEARCH OF A HORSE. 115 



him in his judgment. I have ridden many a broken- 

 winded horse for weeks, and even months, before 

 I discovered it. In slight cases, it is not of much 

 consequence ; but in this, as in almost every disease, 

 pathology tells us that unhealthy action is pro- 

 gressive. What is only a " thick breathing" to-day, 

 may a month or two hence, settle into a chronic 

 asthmatic affection ; and, more especially, if in the 

 interim the work has been rapid and severe. It 

 is, therefore, however slight, an unsoundness to be 

 avoided. I conclude that every body now knows 

 the seat of the disease to be the lungs, though 

 even that was for a long time a vexata qusestio ; 

 the cause of it is supposed to be injudicious and 

 immoderate feeding. The intestines are distended 

 unnaturally, till the stomach presses on the dia- 

 phragm, and this makes a full respiration painful ; 

 the mucous secretion of the larynx, or windpipe, 

 and lungs, is increased, and tlie throat is filled with 

 phlegm: a cough is requisite to discharge it, and 

 that cough becomes habitual. This little explanation 

 which I offer, (not as scientific, but as substantially 

 correct,) will assist us to a diagnosis by which the 

 complaint may be detected. 



