426 SOUNDNESS. 



transparent pari, ol' the oyo «!;cMU'rjilly — a minute, faint, dusky spot 

 (loop in tlio eye, and ^(nu'rally with little radiations of wliito liuea 

 ]>ro(U^odiii<>" IVoni it. 1 1" these symplonis, or th(^ majority olthem. 

 ox.ist(ul at the time of [)iirehase, ihi' animal hail assuredly been 

 diseased l)erore, and was unsound Slartin;; has been considered 

 as muMpiivoeal jn'oof. It is usually au indication ol" detective 

 si^ht, but it is occasionally a trick. Connected, however, with 

 ]\c api>(Niran(H'S just described, it is a very strong" corroborative 

 prool'.* 



Lamkniws, from whatever cause arisiu<2:, is uusouiulness. Jiow- 

 cvcr temporary it may be, or however ob.scure, there must be dis- 

 ease which lessens the utility of the liorse, and renders him un- 

 sound for the time. So says couunon sense, but there are contra- 

 dictory decisions on the case. " A horse laborin«r under a tempo- 

 rary injury or hurt, which is capable of bein«>' speedily cured or 

 removed, is not, according- to Chief Justice Eyre, au unsound 

 horse ; and where a. warranty is made that such a horse is sound, 

 it is made without any view to such au injury ; nor is a horse so 

 circumstanced within the meaning- of the warranty. To vitiate 

 the warranty, the injury the horse had sustained, or the malady 



* Nott' hi/ J\fr.Spooiirr. — All inloiiml ilisoase^i of the oyo, or the ri'iniiiiisi 

 of snoh iliscasi's, t'oiistitiito unsouuiliu'ss ; and wen ultliouivh no iniscliicr run 

 be (lisoovni'd at tln^ time ofsalc, yet, if intlaiiuiuition can l)o proved toiiavo 

 existed pii'viously, and such inllaiiimatioii siihseipiently reours, (ho horse is 

 returnable. As, Ijowever, it is extreintdy dillicult to obtain sneh proof, the 

 most particular care should be (aki'u with rej^ard to an exaiuiiiatiim of tho 

 eyes. Distinetiou. however, imist be made between those streaks or opacpie 

 spots often seen on the eoriu-a alone, and witlioutthe axis of vision, and wliieb. 

 invariably arises IVoiu blows or other external injuries, and whieh, alliionii^h 

 uinountiu!^' to a blemish, iloes not eonstitule unsoiuulness. 'i'lu'ris aie also 

 occasional speeks deepi^r in tho eye, about the size of a pin's head, oviilently 

 on tho surface of tho crystalline lens, and not in its body. These false oata- 

 raets, as tiioy may be called in contraihstinction to true cataracts, are very 

 frecpaMitly absorbeil, and do not inereaso or injure vision. When, there- 

 fore, the examiner can satify himself that such is the nature of the spe(>ks in 

 ipiestion, he will be Jusiitii'd, whilst pointing out their existence, in deciding 

 in tavor of soundness of the animal. 



We cannot by any mi'ans agree with the doctrine implied in the text, that 

 a blind horse is not returnable. If the horse is warranted-sound.and proves 

 to be blind, the warranty is broken, and the liorso is returnable. Many 

 purchasers of horses know no mi>re about a lh)rse than a horse tloes about 

 them, and eanni>t be supposeil to be eaj>able of diseovi-ring the animal's 

 liefecls. ami they have a right to C(»nsider tlu> warranty as their prt)teotion, 

 Tho writer himself remiMubers, many years since, riding a horse twenty 

 miles on a turnpike road, without knt)wii)g that the aninud was blind. It 

 was a castM)f amaurosis; the eye was clear and appari>ntly free from dis- 

 ease, tho animal wei\t safe, straight and well, and he could scarcidy believe 

 it, the next morning. wlu>n he found that the animal was stone blind. 



If, however, the horse is bought without a warranty, (lie tiefect being ap- 

 ixareut, tho horse is then not returnable on the ground of fraud. 



