Читать книгу Special Report on Diseases of the Horse - Charles B. Michener - Страница 92

The windpipe, or trachea as it is technically called, is the flexible tube that extends from, the larynx, which it succeeds at the throat, to above the base of the heart in the chest, where it terminates by dividing into the right and left bronchi—the tubes going to the right and left lung, respectively. The windpipe is composed of about fifty incomplete rings of cartilage united by ligaments. A muscular layer is situated on the superior surface of the rings. Internally the tube is lined with a continuation of the mucous membrane that lines the entire respiratory tract, which here has very little sensibility in contrast to that lining the larynx, which is endowed with exquisite sensitiveness.

The windpipe is not subject to any special disease, but is more or less affected during laryngitis (sore throat), influenza, bronchitis, etc., and requires no special treatment. The membrane may be left in a thickened condition after these attacks. One or more of the rings may be accidentally fractured, or the tube may be distorted or malformed as the result of violent injury. After the operation of tracheotomy it is not uncommon to find a tumor or malformation as a result, or sequel, of the operation. In passing over this section attention is merely called to these defects, as they require no particular attention in the way of treatment. It may be stated, however, that any one of the before-mentioned conditions may constitute one of the causes of noisy respiration described as "thick wind."