42 



oatmeal or linseed gruel. If the cough be severe, the sides of the chest may be 

 blistered with equal parts of cantharides ointment and ointment of red iodide 

 of mercuiy. Half an ounce of bicarbonate of potassium may be given in 

 the water twice daily. During the acute stages, a draught consisting of 

 bromide of potassium two drachms, spirit of chloroform one ounce and a 

 half, spirit of nitric ether an ounce, water to a pint, may be given every six 

 hours, or every four hours if necessary. Should a very severe paroxysm 

 occur, the horse may be made to inhale forty minims of nitrite of amyl poured 

 on a sponge held over the nostrils. The attendant should be careful not to 

 breathe this vapour. We will now consider the chief points connected with 

 broken-wind. 



Broken-wind is characterised by difficult and spasmodic breathing, the 

 inspiration being easily performed, the expiration being very prolonged, and 

 accomplished by two apparent efforts. The difficulty of breathing is constant, 

 and though marked by exacerbations, and by periods of greater ease at times, 

 it is not truly intermittent, as in asthma ; and the cough, spoken of as the 

 broken-wind cough, is short and nervous. Indigestion, flatulence, and heart 

 disease, sometimes aggravate the difficulty of breathing. 



The exact nature of broken-wind is still a disputed point. According to 

 Professor Gamgee — and with his view on this point we are entirely agreed — 

 broken-wind is at first a purely nervous affection depending on an unhealthy 

 condition of the organs of digestion, and the changes we find in the lungs are 

 due to such nervous disturbance. The condition of the digestive organs is 

 to be attributed to improper dieting, or to constitutional predisposition to 

 digestive troubles. Around the small breathing tubes of animals are layers 

 of muscle fibres, and when these latter contract, they aid the expulsion of the 

 air from the lungs. In broken-wind they are first spasmodically contracted, 

 thus interfering with the passage of the air, and causing the difficulty of 

 breathing, and then they afterwards become paralysed, and finally undergo 

 decay. This is owing to the irritation set up by indigestible food, acting on 

 the branches of nerves supplying the stomach. The disturbance thus arising 

 is then reflected to the breathing organs. This spasmodic contraction and 

 paralysis, while it interferes seriously with both respiratory acts, chiefly 

 obstructs the expiration. The expiratory action thus becomes double, 

 since a double contraction of the muscles of the belly is required in 

 order to force out the air from the diseased air cells and small air tubes of 

 the lungs. 



Round-chested horses sometimes become l^roken-winded without any 

 apparent cause, and difficulty on expiration in such cases may be attributed 

 to the limitation of the movement of the chest. It will easily be seen that 

 when the chest is round, the movements are more limited, and the horse will 

 in consequence not be able to take deep inspirations or make strong 

 expiratory efforts. Other changes in addition to those above spoken of now 

 take place in broken-wind, in consequence of the paralysis of the layers of 

 muscle fibres surrounding and forming one of the walls of the small air tubes. 

 The little air-cells of the lungs become inflated with air, and the nutrition of 



