56 HORSES AND HOUNDS. 



duce this effect were they standing only in the open field. The 

 animal suspended to the car of the balloon must have been in a 

 still cooler atmosphere, and therefore could not have sweated 

 from excessive heat. His state, as deposed to, must have been 

 produced by fright and pain combined, and, with all due defer- 

 ence to learned opinions, I must, as advocating the cause of the 

 horse and hound, maintain that such an experiment was an act 

 of cruelty and nothing else. 



We all know that those engaged in surgical operations have 

 little sympathy for the sufferings of their patients, and it is, 

 perhaps, fortunate that the case is so ; but for this very reason, 

 the evidence of such men, where a question arises as to the pain 

 any animal, biped or quadruped, may suffer under an operation, 

 should be listened to with caution. Every one has heard the 

 story of the girl and the eel ; and her reply when rebuked for 

 her cruelty in skinning them alive, " Law, sir, they be used to 

 it." The fact is, she was so used to it that she never considered 

 its cruelty. That any animal can be suspended in mid air to 

 the car of a balloon without bodily suffering, I, for one, will 

 never believe, though all the veterinary surgeons in London 

 should decide to the contrary. It may be as well to notice some 

 of the common kinds of lameness in horses, their probable causes, 

 appearances, and effects. Lameness in the shoulder is occasioned 

 by the muscles being overstrained, either by exertion, slipping, 

 or falling, and may at once be known by the horse dragging his 

 toe along the ground when moving. Hunters are more liable 

 to this kind of lameness than horses used for other purposes, 

 and it is wonderful that they are not more frequently lamed in 

 this manner, when one considers the terrific falls they often 

 meet with. 



It is a dangerous thing to trust a lancet in the hands of an 

 inexperienced man, and therefore a veterinary surgeon should 

 be sent for at once — fomentations being in the meantime ap- 

 plied to the point of the shoulder and inside the arm. In this 

 case I have found bleeding in the vein situated just at the bend 

 of the arm of great efficacy in promoting a speedy cure, by 

 subduing local inflammation at first. Rest, with plenty of hot 

 water fomentations and a mild dose of physic, bran mashes, 

 and a short allowance of corn, will do the rest. 



Sudden lameness is also caused when in exercise, by what is 

 called the speedy cut, and I have known horses drop instantly 

 to the ground from the pain. This is caused by the shoe strik- 

 ing or cutting the part just inside of the knee. Horses with large 

 feet, crooked legs, or rolling action, are very liable to injure 



