IARRIEBY

c>

80

sht such powerful means of relief. When this distemper is so farconfirmed, as to become what is properly called a broken wind,tiie inspirations are always more slow than the exs pi ratio ns; forthey draw in their breath slowly, and their flanks lili up and risevery gradually, but fall again suddenly, because their breath isioreea out through their mouths and nostrils with great rapidity,which slums a convulsive disposition of the parts designed for re-spiration. Most writers attribute the cause of this disorder to in-judicious or hasty feeding of voting horses for sale; by whichmeans the growth of the lungs", and all the contents within thechest, are so preternatural!)’ increased, and in a few years so en-larged, that the cavity of the chest is not capacious enough for theperformance of tiie necessary functions. There is great reason todisbelieve this doctrine altogether : hut at least those who considera broken wind in this light must own, that it ranks among the in-curable disear.es of horses; and that all the boasted pretensions tocure are vain and frivolous, since the utmost skill can amount tono more than now and then palliating the symptoms, and mitigat-ing their violence. A much more probable cause of broken windhas ot late been assigned by the anatomical professor at the Vete-rinary College, and one which is supported by the appearances ondissection. This is the breaking of the "air-vessels into eachother, so that a number of cells form one common bag, sometimesnearly the size of a hazel nut. Hitherto, unfortunately, no re-medy for this disease has been hit upon ; we shall therefore onlylay. "down such methods as may probably prevent tins disorderwhen pursued in time. But if they should not succeed, we shalloffer some remedies and rules for mitigating the complaint, andmaking a horse as useful as possible under this malady. As a bro-ken wind seldom or never comes on suddenly, but by degrees, itwill be best to prevent, if possible, its coming to any height.Therefore when a horse has only a tlrv obstinate cough, and feedsgreedily at the same time, eating his litter and drinking heartily,it will be proper to bleed him in the plate or neck vein ; then themercurial bail, No. 2, should be given him over night, and purg-ed off next morning; or it may remain two days before it is purg-ed off. If given in a morning", he must fast two hours before andthree after it: and then get a purge the next morning, or themorning following that. The same method may he' repeatedagain in a week or ten days, twice or thrice. On the interme-diate days he should have the detergent deobstruent balls,No. 10. Careful feeding and moderate exercise has greatly re-lieved broken winded horses. Horses sent to grass to he curedot an obstinate cough, have often returned completely broken-wimled, where the pasture has been rich and succulent, so thatthey have had their bellies constantly full. As the ill conse-quences therefore are obvious, where one has not the convenienceot turning out a horse constantly, he may be soiled for a monthor tw^ with green barley, tares, or any other young herbage.To pursive thick-winded horses, Barbadoes and common tar haveoften been given vwjli success, to the quantity of two spoonsful,mixed with the yolk of an egg, dissolved in warm ale, and givenlasting two-or three times a-week; especially on days when lieworks or travels. Two or three cloves of garlic given at a limein a feed, or three ounces of garlic bruised, and boiled in a quartof milk and water, and given every other morning for a fortnight,have been found very serviceable; for by warming and stimulat-ing the solids, and dissolving the tenacious juices which choke upthe vessels of the lungs, these complaints are greatly relieved.But to render broken winded horses of any real service, the mostmaterial point is to have a particular regard to their diet, observ-ing a just economy both in that and their exercise ; giving a mo-derate quantity of hay, corn, or water, at a time, and moisteningthe former, to prevent their requiring too much of the latter,and never exercising them but with moderation. When a con-sumption proceeds from a defect in a horse’s lungs or any of theprincipal bowels, the eyes look dull; the ears and feet are mostlyhot; he coughs sharply by fits; sneezes much, and frequentlygroans with it; his Hanks have a quick motion ; he gleets often atthe nose, and sometimes throws out a yellowish curdled matter;lie has little appetite for hay, hut will eat corn, after which hegenerally grows hot. These symptoms, or at least most of them,will attend the ab-cess or corruption of any of the rest of thebowels, in the same manner as tint hectic fever in mankind. Thecauses of this disease are schirrous tubercles which beset the

| lungs, aud are hard to be removed on account of their constant; motion. These tubercles arc lull of a viscid matter, raid are ge-nerally the beginning of vomica; or abscesses of the lungs, whichare contained in a kind of bag. When these break, they fill thelungs with a purulent matter mixed with phlegm, and then it is atrue consumption. But these tubercles or schirrous knots maysometimes lie dormant a long while, without any other symptomsbut a dry cough. But if these ulcerate at length, they turn tofistulous and cancerous ulcers, which admit no cure. As there isalways some degree of an inflammation attends this disease, il isgenerally best to begin the cure with bleeding, and this should hebut a little at a time, i. c. a pint every eight or ten days, whilethere is any probability of giving relief. Then make rowels inthe sides and breast, to draw off the purulent matter from the partaffected. With regard to internals, pectorals, as in colds, may begiven to palliate present symptoms ; but as dissections have dis-covered both the glands of the lungs and mesentery to be swelledand often indurated, the whole stress lies on mercurial purges andalteratives, given intermediately. There is nothing that will con-tribute more to the cure than good air and gentle exercise in aI morning; and therefore, the horse should be removed from low,

: boggv places, when he happens to be kept in such. If he is turn-! ed out to grass, it should never be where it is rank, but on somej dry common or other place where the air is good. But the best] pasture is the salt marshes, where a horse will recover without the; use of medicine;,, if his case is not desperate.

Of Pleurisy and Inflammation of the Lungs.

A Pleurisy and Peripneumony, are inflammatory feye-s,which arise from the stagnation of the blood and the bronchia ofthe lungs) or in t ie branches of the vena sine pari in the pleura.They are attended with a sharp pain in the side, difficult breathing,immoderate heat, a strong quick beating at the heart, and a cough.Tiie pleurisy generally seizes one side only; but the peripneu*mony or inflammation of the lungs, generally seizes both sides otthe lungs sit once. The symptoms ot a pleurisy and peripneu-mony are much the same, only in the former, the horse is morerestless and uneasy, and shifts about from place to place, oftenturning his head to the affected side. The fever rises suddenly toa very great height in the beginning of tins disease, and he oltenstrives to lie down, but starts up again immediately. His ears andfeet are burning hot, and his mouth parched and dry. As thedisease advances, he docs not oiler to lie down at all, but runsback as far as the collar will let him, and then stands immove-able, panting, or endeavouring to cough, till lie drops down dead.This disease, at its first onset, has been frequently mistaken for the. gripes, but may be readily distinguished from them ; for in thegripes, the horse lies down and rolls, w ith his eyes turned up, andhis limbs stretched out, as if he were dying with convulsivetwitches. His ears and feet are not constantly hoi, but are some-times almost as hot as fire, and at other times as cold as ice. liealso sometimes falls into profuse waim sweats, and then into colddamps; he stales and dungs with great difficulty, and the samesymptoms continue till he finds relief. In an inflammation of thelungs, the horse is more dull and heavy, and never attempts to hodown at all ; when his mouth is opened, a great quantity of ropyslime will fall therefrom; and a reddish or yellow matter sticks tothe inside of his nostrils, from a gleet that runs from thence.There is no extraordinary beating in his Hanks, nor is his bellytucked up as in the pleurisy. His ears and feet are generally cold,and he often falls into damp sweats. The cause may be any thingthat impede# tiie free circulation of the blood through these parts,either by plenty of thick humours, or by thin acrid humours,which irritate the vessels to a spasmalic constriction, and so hinderthe free passage of the blood; especially when the antecedentcauses conspire to produce the same elicit. Therefore it may heow ing to bad or high feeding, want of exercise, being over-heated,hard labour, sudden cold, drinking cold water when hot, want ofbleeding when tiie body is full of blood and humours ; rilling ahorse deep in cold water when lie is hot, or letting him stand longin a cold damp air, or when there is a very cold w ind blowing;for all these have a tendency to render the blood and humours otthat consistence, generally termed pleuritic. The cure of both! these diseases is much the same, the intention of which is, tore'I move the stagnation of the blood, and to promtiie its equal circii-i luliou*