THOUGHTS ON BROKEN WIND. 
12 
subject is mainly performed through the elasticity of parts (viz. 
the ribs and diaphragm) in regaining their position, it will be 
evident that this extraordinarv action of the abdominal muscles 
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must result from the usual means being found insufficient to 
force the air out of the lungs; and my present object is, if 
possible, to ascertain what cause, or variety of causes, may 
induce the necessity of this appeal for extra assistance, in the 
act of expiration, to this set of muscles. 
The broken winded horse is usually a voracious feeder, but 
withal an ill-conditioned, hide-bound looking animal; his coat 
is generally harsh and staring ; he is the victim of indigestion, 
and his belly is most frequently pendant and tympanitic from 
flatus. The hay and oats apparently pass through a bad mill, 
for they are only half digested. A cough is always present, 
and this is, indeed, the veriest apology for one; it is so weak 
that if you were not close to the animal you would not hear it; 
it is short, feeble, and very greatly suppressed; and generally 
the animal only gives one cough at a time, excepting when 
spasmodic fits of coughing come on. Once heard, it is so 
characteristic that no one can ever be deceived in its nature, 
but may safely say, when they hear such another, “ that horse 
is either broken winded or becoming so.” Attendant upon this 
cough, in bad cases, is the constant expulsion of flatus, and 
sometimes, under certain states of the bowels, the faeces escape 
also. This disgusting symptom is produced by the laborious 
efforts of the abdominal muscles acting on the tympanitic abdo¬ 
men, and producing a weakened state of the muscles generally, 
among the rest, of the sphincter ani , which, unable to resist the 
power of the abdominal muscles in very bad cases, the anus 
advances and recedes with each inspiration and expiration, and 
remains partially open, shewing the debilitated state of the mus¬ 
cular fibres. The alse of the nostrils remain fixed. A peculiar 
wheezing noise is usually heard at each expiration, and by 
placing the ear to the chest, in any region, it will be plainly 
detected, and is usually a diagnostic symptom of the complaint. 
It sounds as if the air was obstructed and was bubbling through 
mucus; and what favours this idea is, that the animal very 
frequently coughs up a quantity of white mucus which gives 
him ease. The chest afterwards looks larger in volume, and 
the ribs are plainly to be counted. The nature of the double 
action in breathing hardly requires description. After inspira¬ 
tion, which is perfectly easy, there is a pause, and the abdo¬ 
minal muscles act with a jerk, and slowly expel the air from 
the lungs, as if they were a pair of bellows, and then the belly 
suddenly drops, and the sudden inspiration begins anew. 
These symptoms do not always exist in equal intensity ; on 
