ACTIONS AT LAW. 209 



abdominal cavity, and produced inflammation of the 

 outside lining of the bowels and stomach. There are only 

 one or two such cases recorded. Unwholesome food, or 

 undigested food, passing into the stomach would produce 

 inflammation. A horse eating bad hay or kiln-dried oats 

 would be liable to such inflammation, which is sometimes 

 very rapid in its progress. I never before knew that bots 

 were considered a disease. They are commonly found 

 in horses that are turned out to grass during certain months. 

 Their existence causes no disparagement in the outward 

 appearance of the horse, and there is nothing to show of 

 their existence. 



Cross-examined : The existence of pleurisy would show 

 itself in three or four days by the horse breathing quickly, 

 and having, in some cases, a rough coat. After the post- 

 mortem examination, I took the morbid parts to Pro- 

 fessor Spooner, and his opinion coincided with mine. 

 The statement by Mr. Dollar, that there were as many 

 bots as would fill a quart, is, I think, an exaggera- 

 tion. I counted about sixty — there was evidence of a 

 number having passed away. The presence of even a large 

 number of bots would not interfere with digestion. I 

 have seen as many as six hundred in one cluster partly on 

 the sensible as well as the insensible part of the stomach. 

 I do not admit that bots are an irritating cause. A horse 

 having influenza and pleurisy on the 4th of July would 

 be more hable to inflammation of the bowels from his 

 system being in a bad state. I do not agree in the opinion 

 expressed by an eminent French authority on veterinary 

 science that " bots in a multitude may occasion sharp 

 pains, and prove detrimental to digestion by absorbing the 

 juices necessary for that operation." I agree in what is 

 said by the same writer, " that so long as they exist in small 

 numbers they do no harm, and cause no pain." Neither 

 do they, I think, in large numbers. My treatment, when I 



