814 STABLE MANUAL AND HORSE DOCTOR 



course of feeding on dry food, as chaff, bran, barley- 

 meal, etc., etc., that brin^^s it on, as also working in mills, 

 where much dust is necessarily inhaled. It is seldom 

 the immediate consequence of pneumonia ; but frequently 

 it results from those states of disordered respiration which 

 succeed to it, as thick wind, chronic cough, etc. We are 

 much in the dark about its origin ; we see that it gradually 

 steals on a horse, occupjn'ng months, and even years, with 

 a slight occasional cough, which, ripening into a state of 

 impeded respiration, at last ends in broken wind. We see 

 it also follow one hard gallop ; and we may leave a horse 

 well one day and find him broken- winded the next. 



It is not by any means uncommon to meet with broken- 

 winded horses whose lungs, after death, are neither emphy- 

 sematous or otherwise structurally deranged; and which, 

 with the exception of their lighter colour, and greater bulk 

 than natural, cannot well be distinguished from the sound 

 lung, although they crepitate or crackle when pressed by 

 the hand. It appears likely that rupture of the air-cells is 

 the cause of broi<:en wind, because it is not always sudden, 

 but gives some years of a warning cough, or of thick-winded 

 wheeze. 



There is another view of the cause of this disease, namely, 

 that it depends upon derangement of the digestive canal ; 

 and if the irritability of the larynx favours the opinion 

 advanced with respect to the lungs, the constant passing of 

 wind supports the other conjecture. Horses with broken 

 wind will eat almost anything, which, again, is opposed to 

 the conclusion that the lungs are the sole seat of the dis- 

 order. The belly is enlarged, the stomach distended, and 

 its coats much thinned, which last-named facts would seem 

 to decide the question. But the truth is, broken wind 

 appears to be a universal derangement, and it is not one 

 structure that suffers, but the entire body undergoes more 

 or less alteration. 



Symptoms. — These are well marked ; the cough and the 

 manner of respiration may be considered as conclusive. 

 The sound emitted by the cough is peculiar, and is often 

 forced out with a kind of grunt, in a short but vibrating 

 feeble tone compared with the usual cough of sound- winded 

 horses. The respiration is? conducted with a remarkable 

 difference between the inspirations and expirations. Inspi- 

 ration is effected quickly ; and the lengthened, laborious 



