110 THE ADVENTURES OF A GENTLEMAN 



usual attention whether the action of the horse is 

 restrained or imperfect. It may be fairly assumed 

 that all decided injury to the knee-joint is incu- 

 rable: the horse may be restored to moderate 

 work, especially in harness ; but for the saddle he 

 is totally incapacitated. 



It follows that it is of the last importance to 

 detect the slightest trace of injury to the knee-joint ; 

 nor is this difl&cult. The first and obvious inquiry 

 will be, whether both knees correspond in shape: 

 the eye alone can help us here, for the form of the 

 joint does not admit of very correct measurement, 

 and even if it did, the test would be uncertain. 

 Very few men will find both their wrists of exactly 

 the same dimensions ; if there is no visible difi"er- 

 ence in shape, it should be noticed whether the 

 hair is uniformly smooth and glossy. Where no 

 injury has been sustained, there is an even, shining 

 surface over the whole front of the knee; where 

 there has been a blemish, there is generally an 

 interruption of the gloss, as if, at a particular spot, 

 the hair had become inverted, or grew in an oblique 

 direction. Should this be observed, the foot should 

 be taken up so as to bend the joint, when the 



