522 BROKEN WIND. 



ftant accumulation and diftention, too rigid 

 for the great and neceffary purpofe of refpir- 

 ation. 



How far this probable fyftem of obrtruftion 

 may come into immediate -contadl with the 

 judgment of others, I am yet to learn -, the 

 conjedure naturally arifing from a ferious and 

 attentive inveftigation of the cafe, is fubmitted 

 to public opinion^ as a far more rational mode 

 of explanation than to trumpet or re-echo 

 an abfurdity that " the lungs are too large for 

 ** the cheft," or a ftill greater, that ''foul feed- 

 " ing has made the lungs faf,'' when a furvey 

 of tUe fubjed fhall iriftantly demonftrate the 

 carcafs to be evidently poor. 



Whichfoever conjedure may be right re- 

 fpeding the caufe, one opinion is univerfal upon 

 the cure, if it originates in a natural deformity ; 

 for, fhould (according to the credulity of for- 

 mer writers) ^' the lungs be too large for the 

 *^ cheft," or *' the cheft too narrow for the 

 " lungs," the efFed being diredly the fame, it 

 is not in the power of art to furnifh a cure ; 

 the ex*^enfe to obtain it being therefore fuper- 

 fluous, it had better be avoided. That fuch a 



^ defed 



