200 WARRANTING. 



England the case is different ; there it is always advi- 

 sable for an inexperienced person to have anew pur- 

 chase submitted to a veterinary surgeon besides, for 

 a couple of hours, a day, or two days, as he may think 

 necessary. Half a guinea is all you have to pay, and 

 this, with your own, or your friend's eyes, to boot, is 

 abundance of warranty. Some persons, however, 

 expect too much from a veterinary surgeon. A 

 professional man can only tell you of any disease or 

 remains of disease, or fault in the build, which is 

 likely to produce disease or strain. He cannot tell 

 you, merely by looking, if a horse is subject to gripes, 

 rheumatism, or inflammation, unless some outward 

 sign or symptom remain. He cannot tell you if a 

 horse has ever been sprained, unless there is enlarge- 

 ment, mark as of blister, or something externally to 

 denote it. He cannot say either if one horse is more 

 liable to become blind, throw out a curb, spavin, or 

 splent, than another, unless there is some visible sign or 

 malformation, or he knows the sire and dam, or grand- 

 sire and dam, had these defects ; and then he may 

 say, " These diseases being often hereditary, or this 

 build being faulty,-they are more liable to occur in 

 your horse/' Beyond this, no uninspired veterinary 

 surgeon can caution you. When a recruit presents 

 himself before the surgeon of the regiment, on enlist- 

 ing, do you suppose the surgeon could tell if he had 

 fever last year, or sprained his leg last year, unless 

 some evident weakness or enlargement remained ? 

 How can he tell if he is subject to gripes ? 



Buying a horse blind in both eyes, it is said you 

 cannot return him as unsound. Caveat Emptor, p. 

 274. " But it has been held that a warranty against 

 visible defects is bad in law, the purchaser being 



