THE SO-CALLED 



but motion and sensibility have departed from one-half of the trunk. 

 This result indicates the nervous current to be partially checked, and 

 points to the great medium of transmission as the seat of injury. 



There is, however, another form of chink in the back, where the spinal 

 marrow is in no vast degree involved, and in which the animal exhibit- 

 ing the affection is not generally devoted to harness purposes. The 

 horse is commonly showy in appearance, and is usually disposed of ex- 

 clusively for saddle uses. But the existence of a disease is not denoted 

 by any outward sign ; therefore its presence is sneered at as a positive 

 impossibility. Quadrupeds, thus disordered, are, by the generality of 

 horsemen, condemned as " irreclaimably vicious." 



One of the bones of the spine has been rendered loose in consequence 

 of the ligaments being overstrained; the animal has been abused in 

 some manner. The ligaments, when in this condition, are acutely pain- 

 ful ; though no visual disorder may be obsei*vable to the post-mortem 

 examiner, nevertheless the slightest weakness in such a structure may, 

 during life, occasion the severest agony. The bone is not fractured; 

 but one of the vertebrae, through the leverage of its superior spinous 

 process, may have been wrenched slightly to one side. This may not 

 aflfect the appearance of the quadruped ; neither may it elicit signs of 

 pain when the weight is evenly seated upon the back ; therefore, only 

 during the act of mounting, the drag then being entirely to one side, it 

 occasions the most poignant anguish. 



The horse, being dumb, of course cannot explain its sensations; nor 

 can it appeal to the forbearance of its master. Its ailments are entirely 

 subjected to the merciful consideration of man. The animal's actions, 

 therefore, are always liable to be misconstrued ; the promptings of tort- 

 ure are frequently confounded with the exhibitions of the worst forms 

 of "vice." Thus, a creature with the ligaments of the back strained is 

 always condemned as an inveterate kicker; because the drag, produced 

 by the weight of the rider resting on one stirrup, occasions so sharp an 

 agony as alarms the quadruped, and naturally excites a determination to 

 repel some imaginary enemy. The creature, consequently, commences 

 to "lash out" with its utmost energy. This violence is repeated so 

 often as the owner has occasion to remount. The action is always 

 sudden, and not to be inferred from the previous aspect or behavior of 

 the nag. It is, therefore, attended with the greater danger, not only to 

 the proprietor, but also to those who may be collected about the horse. 



A good illustration of the above facts occurred a few years back, in 

 front of certain spacious "rooms," then much frequented by "the fash- 

 ionable world." A cavalry officer, recently returned from India, went to 

 bear a morning concert at the place just alluded to. There he met some 



