SYMPTOMS. — DIAGNOSIS. 525 



or friction sound, the latter a very indistinct and weak 

 murmur or crepitis; (2) Irregularly distributed sibilant or 

 sonorous rales. Percussion shows increased resonance, not 

 over all, but merely portions of the chest. 



Indigestion and a distinctly unhealthy appearance of the 

 whole animal are also indicative of the confirmed cases of 

 broken-wind. The appetite may not be diminished, but the 

 process of assimilation is disturbed, and the food which is 

 eaten seems to be productive of no permanent benefit. The 

 bowels are tjrmpanitic, and there is constant borborygmus ; the 

 skin is scurfy and dry, with coat long, rough, and open. On 

 being put to any exertion the animal shows weakness, per- 

 spires easily, bowels generally lax, with the discharge of much 

 flatus. 



In cases where cardiac complications are considerable, addi- 

 tional symptoms associated with such lesions are more or less 

 attractive. 



In a very great number of horses which ultimately become 

 confirmedly broken- winded, the first indications are not those 

 of impaired respiration, but of cough. This cough may not at 

 its first appearance be of the true diagnostic character, but is 

 continuous and persistent, at last acquiring the true patho- 

 gnomonic character and accompaniments. 



Diagnosis. — In confirmed forms of broken-wind there seems 

 little chance of its being mistaken for any other disease. 

 The cough, together with the respiration, are so truly patho- 

 gnomonic that, having once recognised them, they are not likely 

 to be confounded Avith the cough or respiration of any other 

 diseased condition. 



Asthma, as an affection distinct and independent, has been 

 spoken of and described as a condition of perverted function, 

 exceedingly like but not identical with this abnormal condition ; 

 it is the one with which it is more likely to be confounded 

 than any other, both from the similarity of the general symp- 

 toms and the disposition which the one exhibits to pass into or 

 terminate in the other. The condition of lung-tissue as we regard 

 it in these affections, when well marked and fully estabhshed, 

 is probably diametrically opposite. In asthma there is contrac- 

 tion of minute air-tubes ; in broken- wind there is paralytic and 

 permanent dilatation. 



