256 BROKEN WIND. 
Broken wind is evidently a disorder of slow and of long growth; any 
abuse may lay the foundation of such an affliction. Where abuse of life 
is possible, there folly is too often habitual; thus repetition may hasten 
the development of broken wind, but no one act could provoke so 
lamentable a consequence. 
There is some dispute whether broken wind originates in the stom- 
ach or in the lungs. The mass of evidence would favor the opinion that 
originally it was a disease of the digestive organs; but, as the disorder 
proceeds, all parts of the body appear to be involved. 
The symptoms of broken wind are a short, dry cough, which is 
described as “hacking,” and which may be readily imitated by any 
person making a coughing noise while he withholds from enlarging the 
mouth, moving the lips, or employing the tongue, but at the same time 
endeavoring to pronounce the word “hack.” 
The cough arises from irritability of the larynx, the mucous membrane 
of which is directly continuous with that proper to the lungs, and is 
joined to that of the stomach, any disease of which organ is frequently 
accompanied by cough. 
The appetite is ravenously and unscrupulously morbid; the thirst is 
insatiable; the flatus is most abundant; the dung is but half digested ; 
the abdomen is pendulous; the coat is ragged, and the general aspect 
is dejected. 
The leading symptom, or that which is looked for as indicative of 
broken wind, is found in the breathing. Respiration is accomplished by 
a triple effort: inhalation is quick and single, expiration is slow and 
double. The air is drawn upon the lungs as by a gasp. This being 
quickly accomplished, the ribs commence to expel the vapor, and move 
laboriously to their utmost extent without being able to effect the pur- 
pose. The movement of the chest and the inhalation are counted as 
two efforts. Then ensues the third. The abdomen begins to rise, with 
an evident desire to aid in emptying the lungs by driving forward the 
diaphragm, and thereby diminishing the capacity of the thorax. These 
two last efforts are comparatively laborious; but the double effort is only 
partially completed before a sense of suffocation forces the animal to 
gasp once more for breath. 
There certainly are several circumstances which favor the opinion that 
broken wind is a disease of the digestive organs. In the first place, the 
great majority of broken-winded horses are to be found in those stables 
where the animals are badly fed; moreover, it is no unusual thing for a 
gentleman to turn his nag out to grass, or into the straw-yard, and to 
take it up broken winded. Then, again, low dealers, who frequent fairs 
and public houses, have a method of what they term “setting broken 
