  By using the long-wave approximation, a system of coupled evolution equations
for the bulk velocity and the surface perturbations of a B\'enard-Marangoni
system is obtained. It includes nonlinearity, dispersion and dissipation, and
it can be interpreted as a dissipative generalization of the usual Boussinesq
system of equations. As a particular case, a strictly dissipative version of
the Boussinesq system is obtained. Finnaly, some speculations are made on the
nature of the physical phenomena described by this system of equations.
