BROKEN WIND THICK WIND. 347 



cient may be expired easily enough to carry on their functions 

 while the body is at rest, yet instinctively there is a desire to get 

 rid of the surplus, and hence the two acts of respiration. Imme- 

 diately after this second act the muscles relax, and the flank falls 

 in, and this it is which catches the eye in so remarkable a manner. 

 On examination after death, the lungs are found to remain en- 

 larged, and do not collapse as in the healthy condition. They are 

 distended with air; and this is especially the case when the em- 

 physema is of the kind called interlobular, in which the air has 

 escaped into the cellular membrane. In the most common kind> 

 however, the cells are broken down, several being united together, 

 while the enlargement pressing upon the tube which has opened 

 into them diminishes its capacity, and prevents the ready escape 

 of air. This is the vesicular emphysema of pathologists. The 

 former is generally suddenly produced by a severe gallop after a 

 full meal, while the latter is a slow growth and often occurs at 

 grass, as a consequence of neglected chronic cough, the constant 

 muscular efforts appearing gradually to dilate the cells. 



The treatment can only be palliative, as there is no recognised 

 cure for the disease, though M. Hew, of Chaumont, has lately pub- 

 lished a report of ten cases in which treatment by arsenic given 

 with green food or straw, and in some cases bleeding, was perfectly 

 successful. The arsenic was given to the extent of fifteen grains 

 daily, and at the end of a fortnight the symptoms of broken wind 

 were completely removed; but, as the horses were not subsequently 

 watched, it is impossible to say whether the cure was permanent. 

 It is known, however, that one of them relapsed after three months, 

 but speedily yielded to a repetition of the treatment. It may cer- 

 tainly be worth while to try the experiment of the effect of arsenic 

 where a broken-winded horse is valuable in other respects. The 

 medicine is not expensive, and the length of time necessary for the 

 treatment is not very great. Broken -winded horses should be care- 

 fully dieted, and even then confined to slow work. The food should 

 be in small compass, consisting chiefly of wheat-straw chaff, with a 

 proper quantity of oats, and beans may be added if the animal is 

 not very young. The water should never be given within an hour 

 of going out of the stable, but it is better to leave a constant sup- 

 ply, when too much will never be taken. Carrots are peculiarly 

 suited to this disease, and a diet of bran mixed with carrots, sliced, 

 has sometimes been known to relieve a broken-winded horse most 

 materially. 



THICK WIND. 



THICK WIND is the horseman's term for any defective respira- 

 tion, unaccompanied by a noise, or by the signs of emphysema just 

 alluded to. It usually follows pneumonia, but it may arise from 



