B R O 



eminences, for the mod pirt barren, fitiiate on the ceaft of 

 Arracnn, in the tjft Imiie*, and affording (hckcr only to 

 pirates and thieves. N. lit. l6^ 30*. E. long. 94° 28'. 



Bkoices AW/. Among Norji-yoiiia, broken kneti are 

 a mark of a lliimblcr. 



UnoKrH S'amierj, in jtr'abnu-tlc. Sec Nvmber and 

 Fr*ctio\s. 



Bkokc K Ray, in DlofHrks, the fame with ray of Refr ac- 

 tios, which i.e. 



Biioicts- ll'itui, in Frterimiry S.'':aice, a difcafe frequently 



1 ' ■" -. The fi'lUiwiiii; are the indications 



\ ce. Tlie breathing; of the liorfe becomes 



r- . 1 I:ji:i :'..; r.;itviral Hate, aid fiom an csfy, gentle, and 



11: ;'orm rripiratioii is changed tu a painful, laborious, heaving, 



liiMi of the flanks, which rife by fcvCml fuc- 



■IS to a prcttrn.r.iir.il li.-i;^ht, then fuddcnly 



rtUs a::ii .'u.i viownwards beyond the natural extent of thefe 



parts ; the iioftrils become dtlated, and licld rigid and opened 



to their utmnll extent, and the face becomes every where 



eirsci^trd and co::tracied : fuch are the appearances in very 



'. rjfrs ; in more recent cafes thtfe ;ippeaninccs are 



;, and it is a difcafe that can exill in every degree 



ol iiiiiuiiefs or violence. 



When the difeafe has been of long (landing, and little 

 pains or care n taken with the animal, as may be more par- 

 ticularly obfer%cd in cart horfcs, and liorfis employed in 

 farmer's work in the country, the abdomen becomes lar^e 

 ard pendulous ; but in more recent cafes, and in horles 

 otherwife fitnatcd, we have obftrved that, in the early llage 

 at Icaft, the abdomen is rilhercontracled and is painfully held 

 t'p in this diforder. 



Great third attends this difeafe, perhaps arifing from the 

 incrcafed action or fever which it occalions, and this has 

 been too often milbkcn for the caufe of it, and has led to 

 the moft cruel privations. 



There is no diforder, perhaps, of the horfe, which has fo 

 much en^a:Ted the attention of anatomifls and of fpeculative 

 ingeiri-us men, as this, to difcovcr its caufe. It has, how- 

 ever, we believe, never yet been fatisfaclorily explained ; at 

 lend, there is no author that we are acquainted with that 

 has formed any connected or probable account of it, unlefs 

 perhaps very lately, and which was derived from the fource 

 we are about to mention. 



Haller feems to have fuppofed it proceeded from a relaxed 

 or ruptured diaphragm. Lower imagined that a relaxation 

 or injury of the phrenic nerves might occation it; fome have 

 allured us, after examination, that the lungs are not at all af- 

 fciled in this complaint, and that its feat was about the la- 

 rynx arid air-palTagcs ; and fome of the writers on this fub- 

 iect have believed, that the lungs were grown too big for 

 "the chctV, and that this was the fource of the mifchicf, and 

 there have been many other conjeflurcs equally abfurd. Some 

 thought they elucidated the nature of this difcafe by compar- 

 ing it to a confumptio'.!, and others lo an ailhma. We truil 

 fomething more natural and fatisfaftory will be found in the 

 follo»Ting llaLcment of our obfervations on this Angular 

 difcafe. 



In the year 1795, being engaged in the diffeclion of a 

 i^rey marc that was fent to the veterinary college to be de- 

 ikroved on account of this complaint ; on opening the chell, 

 the lungs appeared free from inflammation, being very white; 

 and, as it appeared free from rednefs and increafe of colour, 

 the general concomitant of difeafe, we were led for a vi-hile 

 to confider the lungs as not the feat of the difotdcr, as 

 t.'.hers had done (for feveral of the pupils were prefent at 

 this diniiftion). On cutting into their fubilance, no inflam- 

 mation was perceivable ; on examining them more dofely, 



B R O 



we obfer\-*d i. fmall bladder or veficle on the outfide of the 

 lungs, in the external inverting pleuritic coat ; this was con- 

 ceived by fome who were prclcnt to be a tubercle, and that 

 tnbercles might be the caufe of the broken wind. Sufpeft- 

 i-g, however, fiom its appearance, that it was not folid, 

 but contained air, it was punclured, and it immediately 

 fnbfided. This inftautly fuggcfted to the writer of this 

 article, that the lungs were actually in a ilate of emphy- 

 f'litj, or that air was contained in a ftate of extravafa- 

 'lion in their fubllance, and which not only feemed evi- 

 dently the cafe in this iudance, but we have fince fully 

 verified it by examination and diffection of a confiderable 

 number of cafes of broken wind, and found that it is the 

 tonllant appearance. This txtravafation of air in the fub- 

 Ibnce of the lungs is perhaps occafioned by a rupture of the 

 air-cells, as fuggelled by Mr. Coleman at that time, un- 

 lefs It is formed in them, and thrown out by fome morbid 

 operation of the blood-vefTels, as fometimes happens in the 

 intellines and vagina ; for the exaft way in which this em- 

 phvfema arifcs has not been yet afcertained. It fully ex- 

 plaii.s tlic caufe of the white appearance of the lungs, the 

 membranes being feparated and divided by air lying between 

 them partially admit the light, alfo the puffy appear- 

 ance they make, and the crackling noife they give on 

 their being handled ; all admit of a ready explana- 

 tion by this difcover)-, and fo do the fymptoms which- 

 attend the diforder ; for the common air elcaping, from 

 difeafe or a fudden rupture of the ceils, into the membranes 

 compofing the lungs, thereby comprefs and obliterate 

 more or lefs the natural cavities dellined for the recep- 

 tion of t!ie air, and thus occallon the effort we obferve to 

 overcome this obllruftion, and which naturally induce the 

 appearances we have defcribed as the fymptoms attending 

 this diforder : it alfo accounts for its incurability, and the 

 oppreffion which a full ftomach occalions. As the extra- 

 vafation proceeds, the complaint gradually, or fometimes 

 fiiddenlv, increafes, fo as to be infupportable to the ani- 

 mal ; and at length being quite ufelcls, he is neceffarily 

 deftroyed. In fome cafes, the dileafc, without much in- 

 creafing, may exill for many year;, and till the horfe dies 

 from other difeafe or age. This white appearance of the 

 lu'igs it is that had deceived fo long thofe who had been 

 led through curiofity to examine the lungs in this complaint ;. 

 it being fo unufual to fee any part in a ilate of difeafe more 

 delicately white than in its healthy ft ate ; and fingular it is, 

 that the extravafated air fhould not bring on the inflammation 

 and dcllruftion of thefe organs. 



Horfes, in bad cafes of broken wind, are obferved to 

 void air in confiderable quantities by the anus, as though 

 the extravafated air of the lungs was abforbed and carried to 

 the intellines ; or it is probably only indigeftion which is the 

 caufe of this : and the fmiths, not unfrequently, on this 

 account, cut through and divide the fpUnBer an'i, then 

 the power of clofing the reclum is loll, and the air efcapes 

 without any noife ; and they are led from hence frequently 

 to imagine they have cured the complaint. 



We are now led to confider what the caufe is, which in 

 the general eftimation of mankind leads horfes to this difcafe, 

 viz. their being allowed too much water ; and here, we ap- 

 prehend, evci-y obferver of common feehng and humanity 

 mull be fliocked at the recoUeftion of what inftances have 

 fallen within his own obfervation of cruelty in this refpecl, 

 and of what horfes are daily and hourly fuffering from 

 the moft barbarous of all cuftoms, the denying a fufiiciency 

 of water to found horfes to prevent their becoming broken- 

 winded. True it is, that water adminillered to horfes in an 

 improper manner, cfpecially after the privation above 



fpoken 



