126 DISEASES OP THE HOESE. 



seeing the animal with swelled legs only, thought he could 

 cure the case, and urged that she should be sent to his farm, 

 where he would put her to the plough. In opposition tc 

 professional advice, this was agreed upon, and the students 

 were disappointed in getting the prize. Not many days 

 elapsed before the farmer found that he had undertaken a 

 hard task, in attempting to cure the swelled legs. Seven 

 dollars and a half were realized for this likely-looking 

 animal, and we believe a smith, near Edinburgh, was the 

 piu-chaser. Here the trickery commenced, and a simple 

 countryman greedily closed a bargain which enriched the 

 smith by forty-two dollars and fifty cents. The animal's 

 wind was, however, wrong, and cart-work would not suit 

 her; so that, in despair, an exchange was effected with 

 some of the ingenious dealers in horse-flesh, in this town. 

 Exchange followed exchange, and it proved very trouble- 

 some to trace the animal, until at last, in broad day-light, 

 she fell, by the auctioneer's hammer, to the lot of a man 

 from Glasgow-side." 



Many a twenty dollar note can be made out of a poor 

 animal thus knocked from hand to hand, until, in the 

 course of nature, it drops dead in harness. The history of 

 the case is as interesting as would have been the post 

 mortem to the students ; and it will be found that one of 

 the most remarkable features in such cases, is the length 

 of time that animals retain a selling appearance, though 

 absolutely unfit for any exertion. 



Heaves. — This is a term in frequent use, but not so 

 well understood as it ought to be, seeing its importance as 

 to the proper value of an animal. Heaves, then, may be 

 defined as a difficulty in breathing, whereby the value and 

 usefulness of the horse is seriously impaired. There is 

 every degree of intensi^ to be seen in this disease. Some 



