104 THE LUNGS. 



The Lungs. 



Anotlier important point in the examination or 

 every horse, is that of the air passages. They a:;^ 

 very subject to disease, and as mueh oi" the 

 horse's utility depends upon his " wind," it 

 should in every case be put to the test. 



Broken wind. The most infallible symptom 

 of this disease, is the peculiar heaving of the 

 Hank. In health it alternately heaves, and falls, 

 and takes as much time to do the latter as the 

 former. But in a broken- winded horse, the 

 flank rises about half-way, pauses there a moment, 

 then goes on, and drops in an instant, as 

 if suddenly, and forcibly thrust down. In this 

 way the flank falls in less than half the time it 

 occupies in rising ; and this is the chief symptom 

 of broken wind. But there is another, when 

 the horse is made to cough, by compressing the 

 head of the windpipe, he utters a short, low, 

 grunting sound, not unlike the cough of an old 

 asthmatic. It is not the clear sonorous cough 

 of a horse in health. Dealers give, or aim as if 

 they were going to give, the horse a blow on tlie 

 bide, whca they want to try his wind ; aud if 



