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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 mercury. 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, 
jt 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 Jungs. 
Round-chested horses sometimes become broken-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 
