338 HORSE CAUSE IN LOWER CANADA. 
what sense the expression a ‘ courbature ,’ immediately follow- 
ing the words ‘ un suros ,’ has been employed by him, and 
whether, in using the said expression * courbature ,’ regard has 
been had to the French technical signification, or to any real or 
supposed etymology of the word. 
“ 5th. It is also required that the said expert should report 
if modern discovery or experience has or has not proved that 
the disease called * courbature is not other than and different 
from the malady known to old writers under the same name, 
and in what respect.” 
This supplementary series of interrogatories I replied to, 
without loss of time, to the following effect : — 
“ To reply to the questions put in this further interlocutory 
judgment is almost to write a history of veterinary surgery; 
and the whole gist of the matter, so far as it relates to the for- 
mer report of the 5th of November, may be found in the fifth 
clause or paragraph of the second interlocutory judgment, — 
‘ it is also required that the said expert should report if modern 
discovery or experience has or has not proved that the disease 
called courbature is not other than and different from the ma- 
lady known to old writers under the same name, and in what 
respect.’ 
“ It is probable that I, as expert named in this cause, commit- 
ted an error in not submitting to the Court, in my former report, 
the reasons which led me to the decision contained in that re- 
port; but I was not aware that such reasons would be required 
by the Court, and I believed that my duty was simply to do 
justice between the plaintiff and defendant according to the 
knowledge which I possessed, leaving the mere legal techni- 
calities, with which I am utterly unacquainted, to the advocates 
and this honorable Court. I must further observe, that a pe- 
riod of some months had elapsed between the sale of the horse 
in question and my examination thereof ; that in so long a pe- 
riod diseases often alter their character in a very material 
degree ; and, further, that I could learn nothing of the history 
of the animal in question previous to its sale to the plaintiff 
by the defendant. 
“ Although I have a very good acquaintance with the works 
of French veterinary authors, I never saw the word ‘ courba- 
ture' used, or heard of its being used, until I saw it in the 
interlocutory judgment of this Court, dated the 30th of Septem- 
ber. My immediate anxiety was to find out the meaning of 
the word in its medical and not in its legal acceptation. I 
consulted the best French Dictionary in my possession — that of 
Richelet, edit, folio, Lyons, 1759 ; and I there found — 
