go MEMORIES OF MEN AND HORSES 



add that in my dreams (as in my notebook) I retain 

 some idea that I reproduced in black and white what I 

 went down to see, hear and do to the best of my ability, 

 and certainly with no sort of bias. 



Having said so much, I do hope we may be all right 

 again, and that no more of Orme's ailments will disturb 

 us. 



So now shake hands all round though, mind you, 

 I am still of opinion that Orme was not poisoned. 

 Professor Loeffler, at any rate, will stand to his guns (I 

 had nearly written " gums "). 



It is needless to go into the correspondence of 

 veterinary professors which the Orme incident elicited. 

 Loeffler alone had a two columns' letter on the subject 

 and was ultimately so worried by the dispute that, being 

 a very high-strung, excitable man, he went off his head 

 and had to be confined in an asylum. 



The curious point of the whole affair is that the Duke 

 of Westminster succeeded in imposing his decision 

 on the general public that Orme had assuredly been 

 poisoned. At the time this dictum was accepted pro 

 forma by all who did not wish to annoy the Duke. 

 Few were really convinced of its accuracy. But as 

 time has gone on, and the details have passed from 

 public memory, the modern generation has received 

 the tradition that Orme was " foully and deliberately 

 poisoned " as a matter of historic fact. 



