t 
AS TO SOUNDNESS. 37 
spectable dw:aler sent his most trustworthy stableman 
leading a va.uable six-year-old bay carriage gelding in 
a snaffle bridle to my premises to be examined, and a 
written certificate was to be sent back along with the 
horse, which was to be purchased by a wealthy woollen 
manufacturer, i7 sound,—only if sound. When turning a 
corner he was startled by a passing vehicle, jumped on 
one side, came down en one of his knees, and a little 
piece of hair was neatly taken out of the front of the 
knee as if cut with a pair of sharp scissors. This 
happened not a stone’s throw from my infirmary. I 
examined the horse and found him sound in all other 
respects, but I could not write a certificate of soundness 
because I should have to say he had a “broken knee.” 
I knew the intending purchaser, he was one of my em- 
ployers, and a certificate with qualifying remarks he 
would not have looked at twice, so that, in fairness to, 
the dealer as well as to the purchaser, I waited upon the 
latter personally, and explained the whole matter, at the 
same time explaining the vague interpretation of the law 
‘upon the subject. The result of the interview was the 
purchase of the horse subject to my giving a certificate 
of “soundness in every other respect.” From the diffi- 
culty I experienced in gaining the attention of this 
gentleman in explanation, I feel sure a certificate would 
have been thrown into the waste-paper basket in three 
seconds, and the clerk ordered to write to the dealer 
saying, “That in consequence of Mr. Fearnley being 
‘ unable to give a certificate of soundness, Mr. —— must 
