368 
LAMENESS. 
to its relation to lameness, and it being our intention here to deal 
with broad principles, leaving the nicer shades of distinction for 
consideration until such time as we come to treat of particular lame- 
nesses, we may safely say that — 
1. Every horse shewing lameness must be pronounced unsound. 
Although the converse of this, as a fundamental principle, will by 
no means hold good : every horse not shewing lameness not neces- 
sarily being (considered as) a sound horse. For instance, a horse 
shall have a spavin, or a curb, or a swollen back sinew, and still 
shew no lameness, even though he may shew marks of having 
been fired or blistered for the same, and so give us every reason 
to believe that formerly he has experienced actual lameness from 
one or other of these defects. Would, however, any veterinary 
surgeon, under such circumstances, give a certificate of soundness ? 
If he did, it must be qualified in a manner that would little induce 
any person to purchase such a horse, unless at a price consonant 
with the evident reduction of his value. It will be requisite, there- 
fore, for us to say, not simply, that every lame horse is unsound, 
but to add the words, or who has that about him which is likely on 
work to render him lame. This will, it is true, open the door to 
difference of opinion and equivocation. There may, as we have 
seen, spring up two opinions concerning the presence even of lame- 
ness. There will in more cases be tw r o opinions concerning that 
which is accounted to be the precursor of lameness, or have a ten- 
dency at some period, proximate or remote, to produce lameness ; 
all which differences are best got rid of by reference to the ablest 
veterinary advice. There will be less diversity of opinion among 
professional men than among others, and the more skilful and 
respectable the professional persons are, the greater will be the pro- 
bability of a happy unison in their views of the case. To have 
any statute law which shall meet such cases as these is, from the 
very nature of vital structures and functions, totally an impossible 
matter. 
ON THE TEETH. 
By W. A. Cherry, M.R.C.V.S. 
In a communication from Mr. Pritchard, of Wolverhampton, on 
the age of the horse as shewn by the appearance of the teeth, 
attention is drawn to several important changes that take place 
in these organs ; and in acknowledging its value, and in many 
