In The Day The Universe Changed, James Burke says the following, referring I believe to battlefield medicine during the French Revolution;
"The strangest discovery involved the condition known as ‘wind death’. Many soldiers had been found dead, with no external marks on their bodies. It was thought that this was due to the wind of a passing bullet drawing out all their breath and causing them to suffocate. After a time, the frequent opportunity for dissection due to the plentiful supply of corpses revealed cases of severe internal damage which had produced no external symptoms."
- Burke, James (2009-11-11). Day the Universe Changed (Kindle Locations 3240-3243). Little, Brown and Company. Kindle Edition.
Does anyone know what Burke is referring to here? What disease or other condition were the doctors actually seeing? "wind death" does not seem to turn up anything useful on google; is this a translation of a french term I can search for?
Read more: What was real cause(s) of wind death?