620 
VETERINARY JURISPRUDENCE. 
settling for the price, he replied that the horse was dead. 
Still, he did not dispute his liability to pay, but promised to 
settle in a week or so ; and the plaintiff said that it was a bad 
job, and he was willing to give up all profit upon the trans- 
action. Subsequently a post-mortem examination of the horse 
took place, the defendant then informed the plaintiff that 
his veterinary surgeons were of opinion that the horse must 
have had disease both of the heart and lungs before the day 
of the sale to him ; and that the plaintiff, therefore, must 
look to the man of whom he bought it, and not to the defen- 
dant. No opportunity, however, had been afforded to the 
plaintiff of attending the post-mortem examination. The 
history of the horse was traced from the time of his birth. 
The breader, who had kept him for three years, described 
him as having always been healthy and lively ; and those who 
had possession of him down to the sale to the plaintiff, at 
Howden Fair, concurred in that description. As he was 
brought from Howden to Wragby, one of the witnesses stated 
that, as he got to the top of a hill, he once made a sort of 
cough or grunt ; but, with that exception, he exhibited no 
symptoms of illness ; and, according to plaintiff’s evidence, 
when defendant bought him he was in the same condition. 
Defendant, on the other hand, stated that at the time he 
seemed dull and ill, and coughed several times, though he 
jumped and galloped pretty well. The horse blundered in 
his walk, and he only bought him in consequence of the 
assurance of plaintiff that a dose of physic would bring him 
right. During the time he was in defendant’s possession, 
the defendant’s witnesses stated that the horse continued to 
be dull, and to cough occasionally, and that he continued to 
get worse and worse until the 25th of October, when he died ; 
a veterinary surgeon having been called in on the 23d. He 
had been once taken out for walking exercise on the 13th of 
November; but he had no violent exercise during the whole 
time of his being in the defendant’s possession. After the 
death of the horse, two veterinary surgeons examined him. 
Mr. Clarke , veterinary surgeon, of West Ashby, said that 
when he first saw the horse, on October 22d, it was in a very 
depressed state, with an intermitting pulse, a symptom of 
heart disease. While taking the pulse he noticed a remark- 
able regurgitation of the blood in the jugular vein, another 
symptom of heart disease. He bled the horse, taking five 
quarts of blood, and gave him some purgative and sedative 
medicine. On the following day the symptoms were nearly 
the same. On the 24th, he could hardly feel the horse’s 
pulse. Made a post-mortem examination after the horse’s 
