12 HEALTH AND DISEASE 



euce relief iu a moist air, while others are benefited by dryness. Cold 

 air is always prejudicial. In dealing with this disease the effect of warm 

 vapour should always be tried, either by means of a nose-bag containing 

 moist brau or by allowing a pail of steaming hay to stand near the 

 patient's head. To guard against a recurrence of the disease the dietary 

 should be carefully regulated, and an oleaginous aperient administered 

 every few weeks, according to the state of the bowels. 



Severe exertion and fatigue, exposure to wet and cold and badly- 

 ventilated unwholesome stables, by lowering the standard of health and 

 irritating the air-passages, favour a return of the disease. 



EMPHYSEMA OF THE LUNGS— BROKEN WIND 



Definition. — This is a disease in which the air-cells of the lungs are 

 abnormally dilated; the lungs themselves are consequently enlarged or 

 ruptured and their elasticity impaired, as a result of which breathing is 

 carried on with much difficulty and distress. 



Causes. — AVhile the proximate causes are not known with certainty, 

 the remote or contributory ones are generally agreed upon. Hereditary 

 predisposition no doubt conduces to its origin. It is observed to affect 

 heavy or coarse-bred animals more frec^uently than the better-bred ones. 

 This may be in part due to the fact that the former are more likely to live 

 and work under conditions conducive to the development of the disease 

 than those more carefully housed and fed and maintained for pleasure and 

 sport. 



It frequently originates in the excessive use of coarse innutritions bulky 

 food, and especially in connection with greedy feeders. The exclusive use 

 of damaged fodder contributes largely towards bringing about this disease, 

 more particularly in the case of old animals. It is of common occurrence 

 in ponies leading a life of idleness Avhile receiving a superal)undance of 

 nutritious and bulky food. 



All these facts go to show the disease to be, in a great measure at least, 

 the result of dietetic causes. 



Symptoms. — The cough is characteristic and different from any other 

 in its prolongation — a double effort in expiration, which is easily seen in 

 a well-developed case but may in others be mistaken for the quick breath- 

 ing induced by exertion and excitement. When the patient is at rest and 

 subjected to no excitement the cough is rarely heard, but it often occurs 

 at the time of feeding, or follows a full meal and copious di'aughts of water. 

 The chest sounds are very variable, but in nearly all cases those of the 

 trachea and larger bronchi are exaggerated, and over different areas there 



