362 ON PURSIVENESS, ASTHxMA, 



the modefl Mr. Fofter, whofe whole book of 

 fifty years praclice, is a tolerably accurate 

 tranfcript of Gibfon. The chief of what I 

 have to fay upon the matter is, that all difeafes 

 of this clafs (I mean chronic obftruftions iu 

 the lungs) are abfolutely incurable, and thgt 

 the whole rationale of afting in the cafe con- 

 fifts in prevention and palliation. 



Broken wind is no doubt an appropriate ma- 

 lady of the domeftic ftate, fince in the natural, 

 it is unknown. I know not whether affes be 

 fubjeft to it; I fuppofe from their fuperior 

 hardinefs to horfes, in confequence of lefs 

 delicate treatment, they are not fo open to the 

 impreffion of cold. 



Dr. Lower attributed the broken wind of a 

 horfe to a relaxation, or rupture of the phrenic 

 nerves, which caufe the motions of the dia- 

 phragm. A friend of Bartlet fuppofed the 

 difeafe to proceed from a morbid or obftrufted 

 ftate of the glands, and membranes of the head 

 and throat, the enlargement of which prevent- 

 ed a free pafTage to the wind. According to 

 Ofmer, " certain glands (called the lymphatics) 

 " which are placed upon the air-pipe, at its 

 entrance into the lungs, are become en- 

 larged, and thereby the diameter of the 

 tube is leflened ; hence the received air 

 " cannot lo readily make its efcape, nor refpi- 

 " ration be performed with fuch facility as 



" before ; 



