IRISH CENTRAL VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 685 
they are. The Royal Dublin Society should take up the subject, 
and, I understand, that assistance from Government is already in 
contemplation. 
Gentlemen, I have travelled too far away from the subject of my 
paper, and I feel that it is almost presumption on my part to become 
your first essayist. The subject which, as you are already aware, is 
Chronic Diseases of the Lungs, 
which I have been induced to select for this reason: Six years ago, 
when commencing practice, it so happened that several cases of the 
kind presented themselves for treatment, and I found myself any¬ 
thing but fully informed on their nature, symptoms, &c. I imme¬ 
diately had recourse to the standard works in the profession, but 
was disappointed in my researches at finding the subjects almost 
untouched, with but a few exceptions, by our veterinary authors. 
Since then I have taken some pains to collect materials and infor¬ 
mation to fill up the gap, and the following remarks are compiled 
from my own investigation, but in a most imperfect state but prac¬ 
tical form; there is still much to add to so important a subject, 
'and, I anticipate, our discussion will have that effect. 
Perhaps the greatest difference which exists in human and equine 
pathology is in chronic affections of the lungs. In man phthisis and 
asthma are most prominent amongst them, while in the horse the 
same place is supplied by broken wind and chronic cough. As dis¬ 
tinct or primary diseases they do not often occur, but generally 
as the result or sequelse of acute inflammatory ones, while, as a rule, 
our diagnosis and treatment up to this has been neither satisfactory 
nor successful, and it thus makes it a better subject to bring before 
an association like the present; when we have an opportunity seldom 
offered of collecting practical opinions and the fruit of years of 
experience, we should produce at least satisfactory conclusions on 
the matter. 
It is a difficult object at all times to define the line which demarks 
the one disease from the other in our patients, and we usually hear 
one synonym to express all chronic affections of the chest in our 
patients, namely, “broken wind,” like many other terms in our 
nomenclature, such as influenza, murrain, distemper, &c., which 
define no particular affection, and leave a wide space to draw your 
conclusions after, and the public are satisfied to consider all horses 
suffering from anything between a slight chronic cough and the 
worst form of lung disease as simply “touched in the wind.” 
Acute lung diseases seem to occupy the principal attention of the 
profession, and I admit it is most important for every one of us to 
thoroughly understand them, but that knowledge is perfectly in¬ 
complete without a corresponding amount of information on their 
chronic sequels and terminations ; such, however, as I have said 
before, has been withheld, while they are diseases which equally 
interest us, we are as often called on to treat and expected to be 
successful, but which can only be when we can form a correct con¬ 
clusion as to their exact seat. Acute diseases run their courses rapidly^ 
