404 THE MODERN HORSE DOCTOR. 



or uninflucntial nature that can hardly, when they do exist, be 

 looked upon as unsoundness : such are chronic or partial diseases 

 of certain parts or organs, the obliteration of a vein * or artery, 

 for example, the conversion of fibro-cartilage into bone, as in 

 splent, chronic or partial disease of such an organ as the liver, 

 &c, &c. 



" Our present inquiry into the nature of soundness being re- 

 stricted to its relation to lameness, and it being our intention here 

 to deal with broad principles, leaving the nicer shades of distinc- 

 tion for consideration until such time as we come to treat of par- 

 ticular lamenesses, we may safely say that, — 



"1. Every horse showing lameness must be pronounced un- 

 sound; although the converse of this, as a fundamental principle, 

 will by no means hold good, every horse not showing lameness not 

 necessarily being (considered as) a sound horse. For instance, 

 a horse shall have a spavin, or a curb, or a swollen back sinew, 

 and still evince no lameness, even though he may show marks of 

 having been fired or blistered for the same, and so give us every 

 reason to believe that formerly he has experienced actual lame- 

 ness from one or other of these defects. Would, however, any 

 veterinary surgeon, under such circumstances, give a certificate 

 of soundness ? If he did, it must be qualified in a manner that 

 would little induce any person to purchase such a horse, unless 

 at a price consonant with the evident reduction of his value. It 

 will be requisite, therefore, for us to say, not simply that every 

 lame horse is unsound, but to add the words, or that has that 

 about him which is likely on work to render him lame. This will, 

 it is true, open the door to difference of opinion and equivoca- 

 tion. There may, as we have seen, spring up two opinions 

 concerning the presence even of lameness. There will in more 

 cases be two opinions concerning that which is accounted to be 

 the precursor of lameness, or have a tendency at some period, 

 proximate or remote, to produce lameness ; all which differences 

 are best got rid of by reference to the ablest veterinary advice. 

 There will be less diversity of opinion among professional men 



* " It has happened, however, that a horse has been returned after purchase 

 as ' unsound ' in consequence of a lost (jugular) vein." 



