291 



^ a warranty of soundness is broken if the animal 

 it the time of the sale had any infirmity upon him 

 vhich rendered him less fit for present service ; 

 t is not necessary that the disorder should be 

 permanent or incurable." The author of the 

 monymous work I have already quoted, defines 

 soundness to be in its enlarged sense " an exemp- 

 ion from radical constitutional defects, but in its 

 )ractical sense, it is construed so as to exclude 

 !very defect by which the animal is rendered less 

 it for present use and convenience." All these 

 iefinitions are vague, insufficient, and unsatisfac- 

 orv; although my anonymous friend, in his 

 practical construction of the term, approaches very 

 learly to what I consider ought to be its legal as 

 veil as its usual meaning. 



Veterinary surgeons are sometimes equally in- 

 iccurate. Mr. John Lawrence, who, I believe, 

 ,vas considered eminent in his profession, de- 

 ined soundness to imply, "not diseased, lame, 

 blind, or broken winded, nor having at the time of 

 sale any impending cause thereof." This defini- 

 tion is not only vague, for disease is itself an uncer- 

 tain term, but is also unintelligible. 



Mr. Taplin, in his Stable Directory, asserts the 

 sporting definition of the word to be, " a perfect 

 state of both the frame and bodily health of the 

 I V 2 



