nhOKEN WIND. 



nav just contemplated, must likewise be most apparent to him : I will not 

 thertfore, pursue flirther in detail the last wastings of this vitally essential 

 orghU of the animal system, but proceed shortly to notice some other efl»'cta 

 of au ill-cured cold or protracted cough, 



BROKEN WIND 



Is already so minutely described, as to its causes and symptoms, in the second 

 chapter, that I apprehend repetition in this place would prove worse than use- 

 less. The reader will therefore turn to }»age 34, and the recapitulation of 

 my treatise on the organs of respiration which imniediately follows, at page 

 35. Generally speaking, broken wind is brought on by inflammation of the 

 organs of respiration, and acquires a difftirent name, though requiring but 

 little variety of treatment, according to the part which may be the more im- 

 mediate seat of disease ; for it must be clear, that although this may lie in the 

 uppermost part or larynx, in the lowermost part or midriff, or more centrally 

 — the communicable nature of inflammation is such, that the whole must |)ar- 

 take in some degree of each and every partial derangement. And this de- 

 gree will be proportioned to the excitability of the individual's organs of res- 

 piration that may be the subject of attack: if the animal contract cold i>r 

 cough in the vigour of age and health, he will experience its effects in the 

 most frightful shapes; it proceeds to encroach on and obstruct the right func- 

 tions of the lungs with rapid strides, and if the symptoms do not abate, he 

 dies. But, being partially removed, it becomes a chronic disorder* to the en<^ 

 of his days; and, agreeably to the part which may experience the attack, has 

 it been the practice to denominate chronic cough either roaring — broken wind 

 — thick in the wind — or asthma. Hereupon, however, the doctors disagree. 



How this difference arises may be worth a moment's investigation here, al- 

 though so large a portion of the second chapter has been already devoted to 

 the subject, and the reader must absolutely turn back to it. At page 34, the 

 thickening of the midriff, in consequence of inflammation attacking the ad- 

 jacent viscera, was minutely described : this thickening of the membrane 

 also extends to every other part of the lungs, wind-pipe, &c. whenever cold 

 or inflammation prevails; and in the event of its continuance, the thickening 

 of the membrane remains long after the virulence of the disorder may be sub- 

 dued. If this state of the organs of res|)iration extend over them generally, 

 the patient may very justly be said to be "broken winded;" when this ex- 

 tends to the thickening of the pleura only, he would then be thick winded, 

 or short in the wind, as he would also in case of adhesions of the midriff, a^ 

 described in page 34, already referred tq. Neither affection, however, can 

 fairly be set down for broken wind ; though both those membranes being af- 

 fected might properly enough be considered "a broken manner of drawing 

 in and expelling the wind," for the inspirations and expirations are in this 

 case extremely irregular, broken, or variable ; whereas, when the air-colls are 

 really broken, or burst into each other through great exertion, then the air 

 escapes with diflBculty, and the expirations are now slower than the ins}>ira- 

 tions (as before observed), and both together constitute irregular respiration, 

 or true broken wind. 



But of controversies there is no end. J. White and R. Lawrence were 

 for some years at issue on these points ; White having taken up L^wfeqce 

 rather sharply, and somewhat unjustly, if he meant to impute error to ll\0 



• Chronic disorders are those which, liaving lasted a long time, become almost second nature, 

 and plague the organs of respiration more than any other viscus : thus, a tickling cough niay 

 «jck bvan animal for years, but it becomes worse upqn any great exertion, or on c^t^iiiiiff 



