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major’s BRITISH REMEDY. 
and his cures spoken of as incredulous of belief ; but speci- 
mens were shown to him in an anchylose state, and he was 
rather sarcastically asked, if he could cure them? Mr. Major 
replied that he was not presumptuous enough to think that 
he could do God’s work — make new legs and bring dead 
horses to life.” 
To assert in the title-page, that his remedy cures all ossifi- 
cations, and in his pamphlet (in reply to a question whether 
or not he could cure an anchylose specimen), that he was 
not presumptuous enough to think he could re-create, is to 
contradict himself ; for he confesses himself unable to cure 
at least that form of ossification, whereas in the title-page he 
announces his remedy as capable of curing All tumours and 
ossifications. 
In disclaiming the presumption to think he can do God’s 
work by curing anchylosed joints, he is making a confession 
diametrically opposed to others of his statements ; for, when 
he tells us he can cure all ossifications, he tells us that he 
can cure all bone spavins, ring bones, &c. In pretending to 
effect these cures, he is pretending to do the Creator’s work ; 
for it is only by re-construction — by re-creation, to speak 
plainly — of the healthy structures, in the diseases of which 
we have spoken, that cures can be effected. 
A bone spavin is an ossification of the hock-joint. Let us 
take as an instance, a horse whose gait is impaired by such 
an ossification, and compare him with a piece of machinery 
whose work is deranged in consequence of one of the joints 
being rendered immoveable by the deposition of an indestruc- 
table material between its parts. We hold that the proper 
working of the machinery can only be restored by the re- 
storation of that joint to its pristine state. The cause of the 
immobility of the joint is an indestructible material, and, 
therefore there is but one road open— the old joint must be 
done away with, and a new one put in its place, in order to 
restore the machinery to its proper working. So with lame- 
ness from ossification of the hock-joint. If the movements 
of the horse be lame in consequence of the deposition of 
bony matter between the hock bones, and consequent de- 
struction of the joints, the animal can only be made sound 
by restoring the hock to its pristine state : since the bony 
deposit in the joints cannot be removed, a new joint is 
needed. It is not to be had, and therefore the true spavin 
in fact, and the consequent lameness, to a greater or less ex- 
tent, must remain : yes, must remain as a matter of physical 
necessity, incident to the commonest understanding, and defy- 
ing the ipse dixit of Mr. Major, that he can cure all ossifications. 
