Definition, neurotic affection with digestive and respiratory
disorders. Causes, no racial exemption, disease largely coextensive
with leafy hay from clover, alfalfa and other leguminous plants, musty
hay, cryptogams, overloading the stomach, active work on a full
stomach, overdriving, bronchitis, chronic bronchitis, emphysema.
Nature, a neurotic affection, starting with derangement of some part
of the vagus, dilatation of the right heart, congestion of the
bronchioles. Symptoms, double expiratory action, flatulence, weak,
husky cough, wheezing, glairy, grayish nasal discharge, wheezing,
increased resonance along the margins of the lungs, sibilant râle,
heart’s impulse strong, even felt on right side, aggravation with
overloaded stomach, costiveness or muggy atmosphere, improvement on
laxative (green) food. Treatment, succulent green food, natural
pastures, relieve any abnormal state of lungs or bowels, pure air,
heart tonic, diet, arsenic, special diagnosis, guard against masking
of symptoms by narcotics, privation of water, shot, lard,
recto-vaginal fistula, diagnostic signs, dilated nostrils,
auscultation and percussion signs of emphysema, relapse under hay and
water.
_Definition._ A chronic affection of the equine species, manifested by a
hurried, wheezy breathing, greatly aggravated by close, muggy weather, a
full stomach, certain kinds of diet, or by exercise; by a double lifting
of the flank with each expiration; by a small, weak, dry cough, often
occurring in paroxysms and easily excited by a drink of cold water,
exposure to cold air or a fibrous quality of food; and lastly, by a
marked disorder of the digestive organs.
_Causes._ This disease is essentially the result of faulty feeding and
working, though pre-existing diseases of the air passages and sudden
violent muscular efforts no doubt occasionally contribute to its
development.
It has been alleged that some races of horses are exempt from this
disease. Among these the Arabian, Persian, Barb, Spanish and Portuguese
are especially named but their immunity in all probability depends on
the feeding and management rather than on any peculiarity of breed. The
countries where these horses are met with are not subject to a prolonged
winter but yield green food throughout the greater part of the year, and
it is a notorious fact that no horse becomes broken winded at pasture.
The Arabians moreover “feed their horses on the scanty plants which the
borders of the deserts supply and when these are wanting they are fed on
a little barley with chopped straw, withered herbs, roots dragged from
the sands, dates when these can be obtained, and in cases of need the
milk of the camel. They drink at long intervals and in moderate
quantities,” (Low). Since an habitually overloaded stomach is the most
common cause of _heaves_ the absence of the affection in the Arab is not
surprising. But the Arab unfortunately enjoys no such security in
England or America. Concerning the Barb, Delwart remarks that after a
day’s hard work, fasting, he is fed on six or seven pounds only of
barley, and without the cut straw that the Arab is allowed in similar
circumstances.
In Spain and Portugal horses at work are fed on broken wheat and barley
straw, from twelve to twenty-five pounds, and barley from six to twelve
pounds daily, according to the size of the animal and the demands upon
his strength. The mares are constantly at pasture and according to the
rainfall they are starved or in abundance. Green food and a limited
straw and grain diet are precisely the conditions in which broken wind
does not appear. Rodriguez, veterinarian to the queen says that the
disease was unknown to Spain until the cultivation of red clover,
lucerne, and sainfoin. At Aranjuez, horses fed on the hay of these
plants, lost vigor and wind and several became decidedly broken winded.
All were, however, restored to health and vigor by a return to their
former diet. Count Cardenas found that his horses gained in flesh on the
new fodder, but that symptoms of broken wind developed themselves
rapidly.
In France, M. Demoussy records similar facts. In Segala, where the
aliment is substantially hay, broken winded horses abound, whilst in the
adjacent district of Causse where horses are fed through the winter on
straw and barley broken by the mules feet in the act of threshing or
treading out, the disease is virtually unknown.
Lucerne and sweet trefoil are indigenous and grow abundantly in Causse
and Caussergne but eaten green or after their seed has been shaken off
and the stems have acquired a dry ligneous character these are
innocuous. When however condemned to stand in the stable through a
severe winter, with their racks constantly filled with hay, they will
eat from thirty to thirty-five pounds of this daily and many become
broken winded. The breeding mares which get little hay, seldom become
affected though the plenitude of their abdomen and the impaired
respiratory function might be thought to conduce to the affection.
In England broken wind is much less prevalent than on the European
Continent and it is deserving of notice that lucerne and sainfoin hold
no place among the British green crops, that red clover hay is only
exceptionally met with owing to the amount of land that is
_clover-sick_, that natural hay is largely used, and that when horses
are largely fed on hay it is qualified by such laxative agents as
turnips, carrots, beet, etc.
All this throws light on the immunity of horses on our western prairies
and plains. Feeding on the indigenous grasses fresh or made into hay,
they are saved from the noxious influence of those artificial products
which are found in all countries to determine the development of broken
wind. It needs not that we adopt the popular notion that any special
plant growing in these pastures ensures the safety of the equine races.
It is merely a repetition in the Western Hemisphere of the experience so
long before obtained in the case of Spain. Parallel with the progress of
cultivation in our western lands, we see this malady advancing. Fifty
years ago it was virtually unknown in Michigan and adjacent states
whereas now these states can almost emulate New York in the relative
number of their victims. It must not however be supposed that this
cultivated fodder is the sole cause of the westward march of this
malady. With improved agriculture have come better roads, spring wagons
and driving at a pace which was comparatively unknown to the early
settlers.
In California the condition of Spain was for long pretty accurately
repeated. With no winter worthy of the name, troops of horses were left
at pasture throughout the whole year and those that were stabled
subsisted chiefly on natural hay in which the indigenous grasses were
commingled with white—but no red—clover. California long retained the
reputation of having no broken winded horses.
In our Eastern states where the disease was thirty years ago so
notoriously prevalent, the fields of luxuriant red clover might well
have excited the envy of the English farmer. The hay made from this,
full of seed and dust was given without stint to the farm horses, which
during the rigor of the winter were often shut up in stable for a length
of time continuously and dangerously gorged themselves with this
provender. In the Eastern States with a steady falling off in the red
clover, there is also a corresponding reduction in the number of cases
of heaves. The grain allowed them, a mixture, supposed to consist of
Indian corn, oats and buckwheat, given as a dry coarse flour, was little
calculated to counteract the effects of the clover hay, and the entire
absence of turnips and other succulent roots as a farm crop precluded
their use as a preventive of the malady. We need not forget the
prevalent ambition to possess a fast trotter, nor the effect of the
climate on the air passages (See _chronic bronchitis_) in estimating the
causes of this malady in the Eastern states.
The mere overloading of the stomach is a potent cause of the development
of heaves. The horse is above all other animals compelled to undergo
hard work on a full stomach. Coleman cites the experience of the
coaching days when each horse had 20 lbs. of oats daily and not more
than 5 lbs. of hay with no water before work. These horses were driven
fast for long stages yet they never contracted broken wind under this
treatment. Farmers’ and millers’ horses on the other hand were most
subject to the disease because gorged continually with hay chaff and
mealy food, and worked in this condition. “Nimrod” who confirms
Coleman’s statement says “I have taken some pains to ascertain this fact
by my own personal inquiries. One proprietor who has nearly fifty horses
at work—many of which are in as fast coaches as any that travel on the
road—assured me lately that he had not a broken winded horse in his
yard; whereas before he stinted them in their hay he generally had one
to five in that state.” Percivall testifies to its comparative
infrequency in the English cavalry horses, which have their diet
carefully regulated. Hay musty from bad harvesting or other cause and
such as is rank from growing in low wet localities are _caeteris
paribus_ more injurious than good hay.
Every day observation shows that driving a horse upon a full stomach
often causes broken wind and nothing will more surely aggravate it, when
it does exist. The same remark may be made of the drinking of large
quantities of water after feeding and just before going to work. Gross
feeders are above all others the subjects of the complaint.
The question arises how a disturbing cause operating directly upon the
digestive organs should affect the respiratory, in such a marked and
permanent manner. It cannot be because of the gastric and abdominal
distension since pregnant mares though in a state of much greater
plentitude, are not thereby rendered liable to broken wind, and if they
have previously suffered from this infirmity, the symptoms are usually
less marked when breeding. The explanation first advanced by Dupuy
appears to be the correct one. The lungs, the stomach, and certain other
organs derive innervation from the vagus nerve, and certain disturbances
of the stomach and intestines so impair the function of this nerve that
the lungs are affected, at first functionally and afterwards
structurally. In support of this view is the fact that broken wind is
usually associated quite as much with digestive as respiratory
derangement. The horse though a heavy feeder becomes unthrifty,
hidebound and emaciated; his dung is passed in an undigested state like
so much chopped straw, and flatus is continually passed from the bowels.
Indeed the almost incessant passage of wind and fæces, during the first
mile or two of a journey, is a disgusting evidence of the malady. The
power of doses of shot, fat and other agents to temporarily allay the
symptoms may be held to point in the same direction.
Beside causes operating on the side of the digestive organs others
undoubtedly superinduce the disease, and among these severe exertions
and chronic bronchitis ought to hold prominent positions.
Overexertion induces overdistension and rupture of the air cells by the
forced retention of air within the lungs, by the closure of the glottis,
while the chest is strongly compressed by the respiratory muscles. It is
an essential condition to all severe exertion in man that the breath
should be held, and though the horse appears equal to the same efforts
of draught after the operation of tracheotomy has deprived him of the
power of holding the breath, yet he would seem to be sooner exhausted
(Goubaux, Colin, Bouley), from which it may be inferred that this power
is frequently exercised, and it probably always is in any sudden severe
effort as in starting a heavy load, or jumping a five-bar gate. This
retention of air in the lungs during violent compression of the chest
walls is precisely the condition met with during an access of coughing,
and in both cases alike there is the tendency to overdistension of the
minute tubes and air cells until they have lost their power of
contraction, or they may even give way and allow the air to pass out and
lodge in the lung tissue.
Another mode in which violent effort injures the lungs is by the rapid
and continued inhalation of great quantities of air during rapid
breathing, so as to dilate the lungs suddenly to their fullest extent.
Sometimes from irregular distribution of the ærial current or from the
want of tone in a particular part of the lung that gives way under the
pressure and the air cells become overdistended or ruptured. This
condition is especially met in the more rapid paces. It is well
exemplified in the results of the deep breathing after cutting the vagi
nerves.
In either case the result will be more certain if the effort is made
upon a full stomach or with the functions of the vagus nerve impaired by
a previous faulty diet.
That broken wind is a frequent concomitant or sequel of _chronic
bronchitis_ is undeniable, and theoretically nothing is more likely to
cause dilatation and rupture of the air cells and consequent impairment
of the innervation and contractility of the lung than violent fits of
coughing, while the bronchial tubes have thickened and friable walls, or
are partially plugged by tenacious mucus.
Broken wind is mainly a disease of old horses, though I have seen
several cases in five-year-old animals, and Bouley records a case in a
two-year-old colt out of a badly broken winded mare. This would seem to
indicate an hereditary proclivity, and there is no doubt that the
shallow, narrow, weak chest predisposing to this as to many other
pulmonary complaints is transmitted from parent to offspring.
_Nature of the Disease._ Emphysema of the lungs is the most constant
structural change met with in the bodies of animals which have suffered
from broken wind. This condition of the horse’s lung appears to have
been noticed by the early Greek writers. It was advanced as the cause of
broken wind by Riding in 1704 (Pathologie Veterinaire), by Floyer in
England in 1761 (Treatise on Asthma in Man), by Vitet in France in 1783
(Medicine Veterinaire, Lyon), by Freutzel in Germany, and Bracy Clark in
England in 1795. It was only, however, after the admirable discoveries
of Lænnec that the question was systematically investigated by Delafond,
who has furnished the most comprehensive data on the subject. Out of
fifty-four broken winded horses dissected by him no less than forty-five
had the lungs extensively emphysematous. This emphysematous lung differs
according to whether the emphysema is _vesicular_ or _interlobular_.
In =vesicular emphysema= the smallest bronchial tubes and the air cells
have become distended beyond the natural standard and remain permanently
so, the lung tissue having lost its power of contraction. If such a lung
is inflated and dried, and a thin slice taken from the surface of the
emphysematous part the size of the minute orifices on the cut surface
will show its condition. These fine openings are only the air cells cut
across, and in their healthy state they will admit no larger object than
the point of a needle or a fine bristle. They are slightly larger in
adult and especially in old horses than they are in the young. If
affected by emphysema they will often admit a hempseed or even a small
pea. On opening a healthy chest the lung collapses, contracting on
itself and expelling the contained air; if the lung is emphysematous the
diseased portion does not collapse and if the entire lung is affected it
continues to fill the chest and may even bulge outward after it has been
opened. The color of the emphysematous lung is of a brighter red than
are the healthy portions. If a diseased lung has been left exposed to
the air for twenty-four to thirty-six hours and then cut across in all
directions, the diseased lobules may be distinguished at a glance by
this lighter shade, and such light portions if near the surface will be
found to correspond to elevations above the general level of the lung.
If the diseased lung is placed in water it floats on the surface like an
inflated bladder scarcely at all sinking into the fluid. If the lung is
blown full of air the emphysematous part is first filled causing the
bulging on the surface to be still more marked than before. Vesicular
emphysema rarely affects an entire lung; it is usually confined to the
anterior lobes and to the thin lower and posterior borders of the organ.
=Interlobular emphysema= is the extravasation of air into the connection
tissue between the lobules owing to rupture of the air cells, and
smaller bronchial tubes. It may occur independently of the vesicular
emphysema but more frequently, it is preceded by that form and results
from it. It is manifested on the surface of the lung by irregularly
formed transparent elevations movable from one place to another under
the pressure of the finger contrary to what is the case in vesicular
emphysema. These vary from the size of a pea to that of a hen’s egg.
When the air exists in the cellular tissue between the lobules, it
appears as intersecting lines circumscribing irregular spans, and
seemingly dark colored to a superficial glance but seem to be
transparent on a closer examination. Like the elevations on the surface
these collapse on being pricked.
When a lung in this state has been inflated and dried it presents on the
diseased parts the union of several air sacs into one by the rupture of
their intervening walls so that a pea may be lodged in the cavity; it
further shows wide and prolonged canals on the surface and in the
intervals between the lobules—the dilated areolæ of the connective
tissue. These abnormal conditions like the vesicular emphysema are
chiefly met with in the anterior lobes of the lungs along their free
borders and on their inner surface near the entrance of the bronchi.
One or both of these two forms of emphysema may be considered as
essential conditions in all forms of broken wind. It does not follow
that this is the primary disease; we have already seen that the cause of
the malady is usually to be sought on the side of the digestive organs,
and that impaired innervation, on the part of the vagus nerve or of the
ganglia in the brain presiding over it, leads to these functional and
structural changes in the lungs. If these changes are results and not
causes, their extent will not necessarily bear a constant proportion to
the intensity of the disease, though in reality they are generally found
to do so.
From a series of injections of lungs from broken winded horses M.
Demoussy arrived at the conclusion that the essential lesion of broken
wind was an aneurismal dilatation of the capillary vessels of the lung.
This is like the condition of the mucosa found in asthma in man and is
explainable in both cases by the impaired innervation, as dilatation of
these minute vessels is a natural consequence of the loss of vaso-motor
nervous power, and contact with air saturated with carbonic acid.
Dilatation of the smaller bronchial tubes is frequently present and
especially characterises such cases as supervene on chronic bronchitis.
These dilated tubes contain a plastic, whitish, inodorous mucus.
Another frequent concomitant of the emphysematous lung is a dilatation
of the right cavities of the heart, especially the auricle, and an
attenuation of their walls. The same condition is noticed in pulmonary
emphysema in man and like this is probably due to the slow and imperfect
circulation in the diseased lung.
Collating these structural changes with the different causes of the
disease we find that they harmonize with the theory of impaired function
on the part of the vagus nerve or its presiding ganglia, whether this
functional disturbance has its origin in disorder of the digestive
organs, as in the great majority of cases, in severe muscular efforts,
or in chronic bronchitis.
Section of the vagi nerves affords an exaggerated instance of their
paralysis and its results. These are mainly emphysema, capillary
dilatation, blood extravasation, inflammation and pulmonary collapse.
Emphysema is the first result and due to the slow, deep respiration
(Boddaert) and loss of contractibility (Longet); capillary dilatation
results from the extreme distension of the air cells and the retention
in them of air highly charged with carbonic acid (Donders); the other
lesions occur later and own very different causes.
That this is the true nature of the disease would further appear from
the occurrence of emphysema without broken wind, two cases of which are
recorded by Percivall; and from the existence of broken wind without
emphysema. Cases of this last variety have been recorded by Godine,
Volpi, Rodet, D’Arboval, and Delafond in France; and by Sewall, Dick,
Smith, Hallen and Gloag in Britain. In connection with this last class
of cases it must be noted that dilatation of the right cavities of the
heart sometimes gives rise to very similar symptoms, and that the signs
of chronic bronchitis are often scarcely distinguishable from those of
broken wind. In catarrhal bronchitis too, after the air tubes have been
washed, it is sometimes impossible to decide whether the lining membrane
has been the subject of inflammation or not.
_Symptoms._ The most prominent are the double lift of the flank with
each expiratory act, in the absence of fever, the short, weak, dry and
almost inaudible cough, the wheezing noise in breathing when that is
accelerated by exertion, and the intestinal flatulence with the frequent
passage of gas.
The =cough= usually heralds the advent of other symptoms. Often the
character of the cough draws forth the remark that an animal is becoming
broken winded and though no other symptom is seen at this time they
thereafter rapidly develop themselves. At this early stage of the
disease the cough is paroxysmal, coming on in fits during work or after
a drink of cold water. Once the disease is established the horse rarely
coughs more than once at a time. The cough is extremely short, weak and
low and followed by a sort of wheeze. So specific is it that if once
heard it can readily be recognized. The sudden effort made in coughing
usually leads to the expulsion of gas from the flatulent bowels.
The =double lifting of the flank= in expiration is not peculiar to
broken wind. It is seen as well in most diseases of the lungs and even
of other organs (enteritis, peritonitis) which interfere with the
freedom of the respiratory act. If however it is not attended by fever
but associated with the broken winded cough, the wheezing respiration,
the disordered and flatulent state of the bowels, the tumultuous beating
of the heart against the left side after exertion, and the slight flow
of clear, watery matter from the nose, it is pathognomonic. The act of
inspiration is quick and free, that of expiration is not uniform and
continuous as in health, but consists of two stages interrupted by a
momentary arrest. In the first stage the posterior part of the abdomen
is slightly raised and it falls in laterally; then comes an almost
imperceptible period of inaction, followed at once by the further
lifting of the flanks to complete the expulsion of air from the lungs.
The first stage seems the natural collapse of the walls of the chest and
forward movement of the diaphragm, the second a contraction of the
abdominal muscles partly due to an exercise of will to overcome the
obstacle to the expulsion of air.
In very bad or advanced cases these symptoms are more marked. The
inspiration is sudden and manifested by a rapid expansion of the chest,
and dropping of the belly previously supported by active contraction of
the abdominal muscles. The two stages of the expiratory act are quite
distinct. The first is manifested by a sudden falling in of the walls of
the chest so that the ribs no longer stand out prominently beyond their
interspaces; the abdomen equally rises inferiorly and falls in laterally
so that a projecting ridge is formed from the lower end of the last rib
to the point of the hip. This is specially marked during the period of
inaction, and this is succeeded by the second effort quick and almost
convulsive. These movements are so extensive that they are conveyed in a
striking degree to any vehicle to which the animal is attached,
especially if it has only two wheels, and a rider on horseback feels the
movement still more disagreeably. When a horse is in this state the
alternate rising and falling of the abdominal organs imparts a
synchronous movement of protrusion and contraction to the anus and in
thin subjects a rising and falling of the muscles on each side of the
root of the tail. The nostrils too are kept constantly dilated.
There is a _nasal discharge_, but this is very inconsiderable in the
early stages of the malady. It is a clear watery or slightly grayish
albuminous material without any visible admixture of pus globules, and
on drying it leaves a scarcely perceptible crust. At first it appears
intermittently and in minute quantities, but in bad cases it becomes
almost constant, and is especially profuse after exercise.
=Abnormal respiratory sounds= are marked symptoms in the advanced
stages. The wheezing noise of the breathing, especially when that is
excited by exertion, may be heard at a short distance from the animal.
The increased resonance on percussion along the lower border of the lung
is only heard when the emphysema is extensive. The dry sibilant or
whistling râle heard over the same parts is equally a symptom of the
advanced stages. When there is much discharge a moist rattle is often
heard over the lower end of the windpipe or immediately behind the
middle of the shoulder. The overlaying of the anterior lobe by the
thick, muscular shoulder, and the complication of results obtained at
the free border of the lung by the abdominal noises and resonance render
these results less conclusive in the earlier stages and slighter cases.
The application of the hand to the side of the chest behind the left
elbow may detect a strong impulse of the heart with each beat. If the
patient is actively exercised for some time this may be felt on the
right side as well. This symptom indicates the existence of dilatation
of the right cavities of the heart.
The symptoms of =indigestion= are also very manifest. The dung passed is
like so much chopped hay and oats, and does not at all resemble the
fæces of a healthy horse. The abdomen is tumid, tense and filled with
flatus, which is frequently passed _per-ano_, and has no doubt given
rise to the name of =broken wind=. This expulsion of gas from the rectum
usually takes place whenever the animal is excited to cough. When first
started on a journey, the frequent passage of wind and dung for the
first mile or two is one of the most disagreeable features of the
disease. When the animal has thus _emptied himself_ he usually goes much
better for the remainder of the journey.
Broken-winded horses are always greedy feeders, and if they get little
work they manage to maintain their flesh. But they are soft and flabby,
and if put to active work they fall off rapidly, becoming emaciated and
hidebound, a true indication of their impaired digestion.
The symptoms are liable to occasional aggravation. If the stomach and
bowels are overloaded they are invariably so. If the patient is kept in
a hot, close stable, the same result follows. Thick, muggy weather has
the same effect. After a more than usually severe day’s work all the
symptoms may be intensified, and this may continue for several days or a
week. Bouley attributes this to an extensive rupture of air cells and a
sudden increase of emphysema, and the gradual subsidence of the symptoms
to the partial absorption of the displaced air and the accommodation of
the lung to its new condition.
Light and laxative diet on the other hand alleviates the symptoms and a
broken winded horse usually improves at grass.
_Course._ The general tendency of broken wind is to persistent
aggravation, but by a judicious regimen many cases may be checked in
their progress and greatly relieved, or even cured.
_Treatment._ We have already seen that broken wind is virtually unknown
on natural pastures where the grass is short, green and succulent.
Turning out on such pastures will improve or even temporarily cure mild
cases. The same may be said of the laxative systems of diet. (See that
recommended for _chronic bronchitis_). Feeding on dry grain only, with a
very limited supply of water, will enable many broken winded horses to
do ordinary work with comparative ease and comfort. In such cases,
however, improvement is only due to the empty and unclogged condition of
the digestive organs and the symptoms return with all their former
intensity when the original diet is restored. By way of palliation much
may be secured by avoiding accidental causes of aggravation. If catarrh
or bronchitis has supervened it should be treated in the ordinary way.
If the stomach and bowels are overloaded and costive, a small dose of
aloes and enemata will relieve. If the stable is close a free admission
of air will be beneficial. The temporary excitement in these cases may
be further alleviated by sedatives, of which opium and digitalis have
been mostly employed. The last agent will sometimes control the
breathing to such an extent that the horse may be thought to have
completely recovered. Professor Dick believed that he had effected a
cure in one case by the administration at a single dose of a drachm each
of camphor, opium, calomel and digitalis. Temporary results only can,
however, be expected from such agents, except in the case of an
aggravation due to a cause acting for a limited time only, in which case
the partial improvement may be lasting.
By adopting such measures to check accidental complications and
confining the animal to a rigid system of diet a broken winded horse may
be worked with comfort to himself and his master. The aliment should be
principally or exclusively of oats, bran or barley, though good
succulent grass, turnips, carrots, beet, and potatoes may be allowed, as
may also wheat or oat straw in limited quantity, but no hay and above
all none prepared from red clover, alfalfa, sainfoin, or allied foreign
plants and none that is musty or otherwise injured by keeping. No food
nor water must be allowed for one or two hours before going to work, and
the pace must be slow at first and gradually increased as the horse
empties himself, and the breathing gets less embarrassed. If meadow hay,
straw or other bulky food is allowed in small quantity this must be
after the horse has returned from his day’s work.
If the food above recommended is boiled or pulped, and mixed with some
saccharine agent as molasses its restorative action is enhanced.
If, however, we add to these hygienic and dietetic measures a prolonged
course of arsenic, the symptoms generally disappear. From five to
fifteen grains of arsenic made into a powder with a drachm of
bicarbonate of soda may be given daily in the food until improvement is
noticed or symptoms of the poisonous action of the agent appear. When
these are manifested in loss of appetite, colicy pains or red and watery
eyes the medicine must be suspended and begun again some days later in
smaller doses.
The therapeutic value of arsenic in this case is probably largely due to
its action on the nervous system, which has long been recognized. As
early as the first century of the Christian Era, Dioscorides,
recommended its use in asthma and in recent times it has acquired a
considerable reputation for the treatment of neuralgia. Another—though
perhaps an allied—physiological action of arsenic no doubt adds to its
value in this equine disorder. This is its power of retarding the waste
of tissues. This property it possesses in common with tea, coffee and
some other agents, but to a greater degree. This has led to its
extensive employment by the peasants in Lower Austria, Styria, and the
mountains separating Austria from Hungary, who found that it improved
their personal appearance, increased their weight and enabled them to
sustain greater exertions in climbing without fatigue. It was the
revelations of Dr. Tschudi concerning the Styrian arsenic eaters that
first led Professor Bouley to try this agent in broken wind.
=Examination of Broken-winded Horses.= Though the symptoms enumerated
above are sufficient to detect broken wind in all ordinary cases, yet it
may not be time thrown away to caution the reader against pronouncing it
absent when the more prominent symptoms are not seen. Unscrupulous
dealers do not hesitate to avail of a variety of devices to conceal the
symptoms and make the animal pass for a sound horse. Digitalis and other
sedatives are so employed, but are mostly rejected because they render
the horse dull and sluggish. By some the bowels are unloaded by a dose
of physic, the horse is kept on a spare diet of oats, beans and other
grain, water is withheld, and on the morning of sale one or two pounds
of leaden shot or of bacon fat are administered. The inconvenience
attendant on the presence of these agents in the stomach makes the
animal desist as much as possible from moving the abdominal organs, and
the double lifting of the flank is thus more or less completely hidden.
With the veterinarian however this measure like the last defeats its own
purpose, for such horses are always intolerably thirsty and if allowed
to regale themselves at the nearest watering trough, the charm is
broken, the double lift returns and with it all the symptoms of the
malady.
A brutal practice existed among ancient farriers, of making an
artificial opening into the rectum to allow the exit of the flatus upon
which they conceived the disease to depend. This was effected either by
cutting through the sphinctor ani with a knife or by making a new
opening to one side of it with a red hot iron. According to Ferguson
this has been improved upon by the modern Irish jockey, in the case of
broken winded mares. With the knife an artificial communication is made
between the rectum and the vagina, of sufficient size to insure that it
will remain open and large enough to allow pellets of dung to pass into
the vagina. The double lifting of the flank forces the fæces through
this artificial opening, and to avoid the inconvenience of their
presence in the vagina the animal carefully refrains from this action.
This orifice further allows the free escape of any gases generated in
the rectum and thus materially relieves the flatulence. Ferguson says he
has seen broken winded mares that have been operated on in this manner,
that breathed so freely that even professional men have failed to detect
the affection.
In all cases of broken wind, no matter how masked there will be
manifest, on slight exertion, a permanent dilatation of the
nostrils—_i.e._, alike in inspiration and expiration,—and when any such
suspicious symptom is seen the horse should be carefully examined,
especially the state of his lungs as ascertained by auscultation and
percussion, his breathing after he has freely partaken of water and hay,
and, if there is suspicion of drugging, after he has stood over night in
a hot stable plentifully supplied with both hay and water.
It should be borne in mind that mares advanced in pregnancy often show
no double action of the flank though decidedly broken winded.