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.
POLYPUS OF THE BRONCHIAL TUBES.
Like other mucous membranes, that covering the bronchial tubes, is liable to diseased growths, which may each remain attached by a broad base, and form a morbid elevation of the surface, or it may become loosened and retain its connection with the mucous membrane only by a neck or pedicle. An interesting case of the latter variety is recorded in the Edinburgh Veterinary Review for January, 1864, by Mr. Parker of Birmingham. It was attached to the wall of the right bronchus about an inch below the bifurcation of the trachea, and had an ovoid form measuring 8½ inches in its longest circumference by 4½ in its shorter. The pedicle was 1½ inch long and allowed the tumor to pass freely upward into the lower part of the windpipe, threatening instant suffocation. It had a fibrous structure and was continuous with the interlacing bundles of yellow elastic tissues which cover the cartilaginous rings of the bronchus.
From its frequent displacement upward the tumor gave rise to paroxysms of hurried and difficult breathing apparently threatening suffocation, but when these passed off, respiration was tolerably tranquil and easy. The fits of dyspnœa came on after any unwonted excitement, but above all after a cough. In such cases the tumor had been coughed up into the lower end of the windpipe and until it slid back into its former position, the animal seemed on the very verge of death. The paroxysms had appeared very frequently during a period of five months that had elapsed since her purchase, increasing steadily in severity and finally causing death. The lungs contained many small abscesses the result doubtless of the frequent paroxysms of dyspnœa.
Cases of this kind are not usually amenable to treatment, nevertheless as they are pretty certain to end fatally if neglected, it would be quite permissible to perform tracheotomy in the lower part of the neck and attempt to snare the tumor with an elastic wire passed through a single or double tube. The tumor might even be seized by a vulsella and twisted off, provided it could be reached.