ON BROKEN WIND. 3i 
and, my Sentiments having been confirmed by practice, I am led to 
unite myself in opinion with the authors quoted by Mr. Fisher. 
Broken wind is generally believed to be a symptom of disor- 
ganization of the lungs, whereby they are unable to perform their 
proper functions with freedom or regularity. In some instances 
this change is produced suddenly from violence ; in others it is the 
result of disease. But from whatever cause it may originate, it is 
perfectly clear to those who have examined the lungs of broken- 
winded horses, that it is only possible for the art of man to alle- 
viate, not to cure. 
It must, however, be remembered that the word broken wind is 
sometimes misused. By some it does not always denote that 
chronic state of the lungs of which it is symptomatic in the cases 
abovementioned ; we may have the appearance of broken wind 
without any alteration in the structure of the lung. At the time 
of the riots in 1842, when the yeomanry were quartered in this 
town, and their horses put into close stables, where they stood to- 
gether in such numbers that they could not lie down, arid the 
effluvia was almost overpowering, numbers were taken suddenly 
ill, and their breathing, to all appearance, that of a broken-winded 
animal ; yet these cases all yielded to treatment, and no ill effects 
were afterwards observed. I have seen cases of influenza, in which 
the breathing was similar, and this also removed with the disease ; 
but in none of these cases do I think the term broken wind could 
be applied. Broken wind is not a disease, but it is the result of 
disease, and when once established cannot be removed. 
I do not know by whom the term broken wind was first intro- 
duced ; but it certainly is not mentioned in the earliest veterinary 
authors. They put modern professors to the blush, and describe 
things under, at least, more appropriate names. As it will not only 
amuse your readers, and afford some little information to the learned 
and unlearned, I have taken the liberty of transcribing the opinion 
of Blundeville on this subject: it is dated 1566. 
Of the Fritized, Broken, and Rotten Lungs. 
"This proceeds, as Absirtus and Theomnestus saith, either of an 
extreme cough, or of vehement running or leaping, or of over greedy 
drinking after great thirst ; for the lungs be inclosed in a very thin 
film or skin, and therefore very easy to be broken, which, if 
it be not cured in time, doth grow to appostumation and to corrup- 
tion, oppressing all the lungs, which of the old authors is called 
vomica and suppuratio. But Theomnestus saith, that broken lungs 
and rotten lungs be two diverse diseases, and have diverse signs 
and diverse cures. The signs of broken lungs be these. The 
