XVI PREFACE, 



with an imperfect joint, of course, the same 

 effect will ensue. It is a curious fact, how- 

 ever, that there are fewer distorted produc- 

 tions amongst horses than amongst any 

 other description of quadrupeds. In horned 

 cattle and sheep these lusus naturae are by 

 no means unfrequent ; but, during the wliole 

 of my professional practice, I never saw but 

 one case of the kind, which was a colt sent 

 to the Veterinary College, for the purpose 

 of having two supernumerary feet ampu- 

 tated from the fore legs. These feet, which 

 grew out of the fetlock joints, in the man- 

 ner of dew claws, were taken off, and the 

 animal afterwards became useful. 



Before any positive or correct standard 

 of soundness can be established, it will be. 

 necessary to draw the line somewhere. — 

 Thus, if the strict signification of the term 

 be attended to, a horse must either be sound 

 or unsound. There can be no modification, 

 nor should any attempt to qualify an imper- 

 fection be admitted, provided the position I 

 have just laid down be adhered to. But if 

 this were to become the invariable standard, 

 horses must either be much depreciated in 

 value, or ver}^ few be sold as sound ones ; 

 since it is a well-known fact that very few 



