BROKEN WIND. 257 
wind ;” this consists in pouring into the stomach various substances 
which cause the indicative symptom of the disease to be for a time con- 
cealed. Grease, tar, shot, and many filths are used for this purpose—- 
anything which seems to induce nausea appears capable of producing 
such an effect. These things may conceal, but they cannot destroy, the 
characteristic cough; a copious draught of cold water, by refreshing 
the stomach, will induce the restoration of all those signs natural to the 
disorder. 
Formerly there was very generally accepted a supposed cure for 
broken wind. The flatus is one of the most marked and troublesome 
symptoms of the disease; that, when coaches had possession of the 
roads, rendered a broken-winded animal unsuited to run in such vehicles. 
To master the objection, and also, by relieving the intestines, to enable 
the broken-winded horse to live through the pace, a hole was bored into 
the rectum from without by means of a heated iron; into this hole a leaden 
tube was inserted, and by that the flatus found egress without the outside 
passenger being unpleasantly aware of its perpetual escape. 
For broken wind, prevention is far more easy than cure; in fact, 
the utmost which science can at present accomplish is to relieve the dis- 
tress. To effect this, water should be given only at stated times, and 
never immediately before work. Four half pails may be allowed each 
four and twenty hours; one the first thing in the morning, another the 
last thing at night, and the other two at convenient times during the 
day. Into every drink of water it is likewise well to mingle half an 
ounce of dilute phosphoric acid, or half a drachm of dilute sulphuric 
acid. 
Besides this allow oats and beans, five feeds each day, with only five 
pounds of hay; two pounds in the morning, when being dressed, and the 
remainder in the rack at night. Crush the oats and beans; thoroughly 
damp all the food before it is presented to the horse, and also scald the 
corn. 
Remove all bed by day, and muzzle when littered down for the night. 
Place a lump of rock-salt at one end of the manger, and at the other 
put a block of chalk. 
Such is the little science can propose for the alleviation of an incapaci- 
tating disorder. All other recommendations rather concern the owner 
than the stable. A horse thus afflicted should never be pushed hard or 
called upon for any extraordinary exertion. Fatigue, when severe, 
is apt to provoke alarming spasm; a spectacle which the author once 
witnessed, of an animal which had journeyed far, pulling a heavy load, 
is represented at the head of this article. The horse had only paused 
while the carter took his beer, and had received nothing but hay upon 
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