424 
LAMENESS. 
such of them constitute unsoundness as are probable or certain to give 
rise on work to lameness ; but, then, we shall experience difficulty 
in some of the cases in drawing the line between actual lame- 
ness and natural failing or weakness. Ahorse foaled with evident 
deficiency of physical power, partial or general, can hardly be 
called unsound; though, should he have that about him which 
renders it likely he will, when put to work, become actually lame , 
he ought, assuredly, to be pronounced 'prospectively so. “ CUTTING,” 
as the striking of one foot against its fellow leg is called, arise from 
whatever cause it may, is apt to produce occasional lameness, and 
when it does so, is fairly regarded as a species of prospective un- 
soundness. STRINGHALT is action so unnatural that some do not 
hesitate to affirm it to be a species of unsoundness, though it is a 
well-known fact that horses so affected will do the same amount 
of work as it is reasonable to suppose they would or could do were 
they free from it. After all, as the foregoing observations will 
abundantly testify, a good deal, in the decisions between soundness 
and unsoundness, must be left to the skill and judgment of the 
professional man : he alone can unriddle the true nature of the 
case, and form a just estimate of the probabilities of lameness ; and, 
if he be but trustworthy and honest in his opinions, he is, beyond 
question, the preferable authority in such cases for advice or 
appeal. 
When we, as men acquainted with the animal economy, consider 
the multiplicity of evils even quadruped “ flesh is heir to,” and reflect 
in how many ways its health and action may become impaired, 
and how graduated down those impairments may be into states of 
indisputable soundness, we have no right to feel surprise at the 
intricacy in which we find the subject before us involved, no more 
than we have, in a strictly pathological point of view, at the com- 
parative paucity of sound horses coming under our observation. 
The separation of monomania in man from oddity or eccentricity 
is hardly more difficult than resolving the question of soundness in 
its dubious or transitory form is in horses; a great deal, after 
all, must be matter of opinion, and those opinions will ever prove 
best worthy our reliance which are founded on the widest expe- 
rience, coupled with the best character for honesty. No more 
responsible duty attaches to a professional man than that of giving 
a certificate of soundness : by it the warranty of the dealer or 
vender is either confirmed or falsified, the purchase completed or 
set on one side, the value of the animal either substantiated or 
lowered; on all which accounts is the veterinarian pledged, not 
only to use his “ hundred eyes” in making the examination, but 
also his maturest judgment in diving into the nature of any unsound- 
