TUICK W'NU.] 



:^IODE]iX VETRIUXARY PliACriCE. 



[uitOKLN WIND. 



passngcg, and consequently prevented a free 

 and unimpeded respiration. It is a disease 

 rarely occurring of itself, but euperveniiig 

 after some otlier inflammatory attack to which 

 the air-passagos may have boon subject, such 

 aa catarrh, &c. Long-continued exercise, 

 quickened beyond the capacity of the lungs to 

 bear, is frequently a cause ; and such is par- 

 ticularly the case when horses are driven or 

 ridden hard with full stomachs. It is also not 

 unfrequeutly produced when horses are too 

 fat, or, in other words, out of condition, when 

 inflammation is superinduced in the air-paa- 

 eages. Confinement will frequently produce 

 it, by eiciting an inflammatory diathesis, 

 especially if over-feeding, with a want of exer- 

 cise, be added to it. 



Tlie remote causes of thick wind are to be 

 found in morbid vascular action. The proxi- 

 mate causes are more obscure ; but the 

 examination of morbid subjects, in most in- 

 stances, shows some disorganisation in the 

 structure of the lungs. A deranged state of 

 the lungs, and especially if the atmosphere is 

 at all thick and heavy, will give rise to it. 

 The most usual appearance it presents, is a 

 morbid alteration in the minute bronchial 

 ramifications of the blood-vessels, occasioned 

 either by a thickening of their own mem- 

 branous structure, or by a deposit within them 

 of coagulable lymph, which, necessarily, con- 

 tracts or lessens their functional capacity, 

 rendering air-passages much smaller than they 

 are in a natural state, when difllculty of res- 

 piration is produced, and the animal is called 

 foggy, or thick-winded. 



Thick wind is easily discovered by any per- 

 son at all acquainted witb horses. A sense of 

 fulness in the right side of the heart induces 

 the animal to respire hastily. The force with 

 whicb this is done occasions the sound so well 

 known as the distinguishing mark of thick 

 wind, which often degenerates into, what is 

 called, broken wind. 



For the treatment of thick wind, there is no 

 ybetter remedy than the cordial pectoral hall, 

 given in the list of medicines at the end of 

 this section, administered occasionally in the 

 morning, when the afiection appears, more 

 than usual, to distress the animal, and render- 

 ing him apparently less capable for the per- 

 formance of his duties. 



2n 



HIIOKKN WIND. 



This aflfoction of the lungs and air-pasaagcH 

 has a long time puzzled both English as well 

 as French writers on vetoriiuiry suhjcots, but 

 without eitlior being satisfied, until the all- 

 penetrating genius of Professor Coleman, of the 

 Koyal Veterinary College, threw a liglit on tho 

 subject before unknown. The theory of that 

 gentleman is a correct one. He discovered it 

 to be a rupture of the air-cells of the lungs, 

 so that tlie tiiin membrane covering those, 

 becomes raised up ii\ small bladdt^rs, wherever 

 the rupture takes place. This opinion baa 

 been thoroughly proved, on examination after 

 death, in such subjects as bad been affected 

 with the complaint when living. The alteration 

 in the structure of the broken-winded lung is in 

 general very considerable. It has been asserted 

 that, in very few instances, no change whatever 

 has been detected, and the lungs have presented 

 little or no morbid appearance ; but this we 

 should very much doubt, having dissected seve- 

 ral horses affected with broken wind, and 

 having examined their lungs minutely, and 

 always found great derangement in them. 

 The alteration consists principally in an em- 

 physematous state, dependent on the air, as 

 above stated, being extravasated not only 

 throughout the parenchyma in minute air- 

 bubbles, but also extended over the thin mem- 

 branous covering. This extravasation is, in 

 most cases, so complete, as to render the lungs 

 specifically lighter than ordinary, and to make 

 them crepitate and crackle under the hand. 

 They are also, in every instance, of a paler 

 colour. 



The invariable presence of emphysema in 

 such cases being fully established, it is not to 

 be wondered at that a cure has never been 

 established for broken wind. Some writers 

 have said that there may be a possibility of 

 cure, but without making mention of the 

 curative means. "We shall, therefore, offer our 

 opinion as to the best means of relieving the 

 disease, without making any pretensions to 

 the discovery of a perfect remedy. 



AVhere broken wind exists, it is easily 

 known by tho peculiar action occasioned by 

 the respiration of the horse. The cough, also, 

 which accompanies it is of a peculiar kind, 

 and seems to be forced o.it with a sort ot 



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