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292 



horse, without exception or ambiguity ; the total 

 absence of blemishes, as well as defects ; a freedom 

 from every imperfection, from all impediment to 

 sight or action." 



It is obvious that this definition is almost ludi- 

 crously high ; the horse is in its perfect state only 

 in an unreclaimed condition ; and it may well be 

 doubted if even in a state of nature the majority 

 of the herd are perfect. 



I have understood the opinion of Mr. Mavor, an '' 

 eminent veterinary surgeon, to have been given ir 

 a court of law, that " he considers a horse to be 

 sound which is perfect in structure, and perfect ir 

 function ; and that even where his structure is noi 

 perfect, that if he has never been lame, or incapa- 

 citated from performing his ordinary duties, no 

 likely to be incapacitated from performing then 

 with equal facility, he still is sound." =^ 



* I have been censured in a review of this work for the quota 

 tion of this opinion of Mr. Mavor's without acknowledging th. 

 channel through which it reached me. The reviewer, afte 

 alluding to a book called " The Horseman's Manual," and inti 

 mating that I had untruly denied a knowledge of that book, say 

 of Mr. Mavor's opinion, "We know it was furnished exclusivel; 

 to the author of * the Horseman's Manual.' " This knowledge o 

 the reviewer strongly implies that he is one and the same persoi 

 with the author of the Manual, and the soreness which he betray 



