578 
CASTRATION BY TORSION. 
This closed the case for the defendant, to which Mr. Dutton 
briefly replied; after which his Honour went through the 
evidence with great minuteness, telling the jury that to 
constitute unsoundness at the time of sale there should 
either be disease or the seeds of disease in existence which 
afterwards developed themselves. To find a verdict for the 
plaintiff they must be satisfied that such had been the case 
in the present instance. The Judge remarked further on the 
very contradictory nature of the evidence, stating that it 
became quite a question to which side they would attach the 
greatest amount of credit, a difficulty which perhaps their 
own experience of horses might enable them to overcome. 
The doctors were as usual at issue on certain points, which 
were perhaps not easy to decide. — After some consideration 
the jury found a verdict for the defendant, and his Honour, 
on the application of Mr. Smallwood, allowed advocate’s fee, 
costs of witnesses, &c. The trial occupied the greatest part 
of the day, and the result seemed to be looked forward to 
with the utmost anxiety by a very full court. 
Foreign Department. 
CASTRATION BY TORSION. By M. Dillon. 
(A letter to the Editor of the f RecueiV on the priority of the discovery 
of this operation .) 
If it were possible to make a computation of the number 
of horses which within the last fifty years have sunk under 
castration, both by the covered and uncovered operations ( par 
casseaux a testicales converts on decouverts) we should find 
therein incontestable proofs of both these methods having 
been the occasion of the loss of a large number of our 
best horses. In the remount depots, even where are sta- 
tioned the most skilful veterinarians, and where the utmost 
care is taken of the horses, so considerable have been the 
losses that the government have come to the determination 
to purchase as many geldings and mares as they can obtain 
in lieu of entire horses. 
Thus has government found it advisable to guard them- 
selves as much as possible against the mishaps of castration ; 
an operation which, however well performed, and under the 
most favorable circumstances, too often is attended with 
