SOUNDNKSS. 23 



do were they free from it. After all, as the foregoing observations 

 will abundantly testify, a good deal, in the decisions between sound- 

 ness and unsoundness, must be left to the skill and judgment of 

 the professional man : he alone can unriddle the true nature of the 

 case, and form a just estimate of the probabilities of lameness ; and, 

 if he be but trustworthy and honest in his opinions, he is, beyond 

 question, the preferable authority in such cases of appeal for 

 advice. 



When we, as men acquainted with the animal economy, consider 

 the multiplicity of evils even quadruped" ^Q^h. is heir to," and reflect 

 in how many ways its health and action may become impaired, 

 and how graduated down those impairments may be into states of 

 indisputable soundness, we have no right to feel surprise at the 

 intricacy in which we find the subject before us involved, no more 

 than we have, in a strictly pathological point of view, at the com- 

 parative paucity of sound horses coming under our observation. 

 The separation of monomania in man from oddity or eccentricity 

 is hardly more difficult than resolving the question of soundness in 

 its dubious or transitory form is in horses; a great deal, after 

 all, must be matter of opinion, and those opinions will ever prove 

 best worthy our reliance which are founded on the widest expe- 

 rience, coupled with the best character for honesty. No more 

 responsible duty attaches to a professional man than that of giving 

 a certificate of soundness : by it the warranty of the dealer or 

 vender is either confirmed or falsified, the purchase completed or 

 set on one side, the value of the animal either established or 

 destroyed; on all which accounts is the veterinarian pledged, not 

 only to use his " hundred eyes" in making the examination, but 

 also his maturest judgment in diving into the nature of any unsound- 

 ness he may discover, as well as into its positive or probable effect 

 on the action or capabilities of the animal, both present and to come. 

 This leads us, before we close the subject, to say a few words on 



Warranty; by which is meant an indemnity against any un- 

 soundness, or a pledge given — commonly in writing — by the vender 

 to the purchaser, that the horse is sound and quiet, and possesses 

 such and such qualifications. Without such indemnification or 

 pledge, the law says caveat emptor — let the purchaser take the 

 consequences : the rule at law being, that every bod}^ who pur- 



