622 
EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Mr. Serjeant Hayes, with the permission of the Court, then 
called — 
Charles Spooner, Principal Professor at the Royal Veterinary 
College, who said : I have heard the description given of the 
symptoms of this horse’s disease. All the observations 
made with reference to the state of the lungs lead me to sup- 
pose that the disease was of recent occurrence, and that it 
might have been produced as a consequence of inflammation 
within two or three days prior to the death of the animal. 
Keeping horses inactive always predisposes them to inflam- 
matory affections. The symptoms described by Mr. Clarke 
indicated the existence of acute inflammatory disease in the 
lungs and heart. The hearts of horses vary very much, and 
I have often known inexperienced persons to take large 
hearts for diseased hearts. The description given by 
Mr. Clarke and Mr. Fletcher of the state of the heart was 
unquestionably evidence of chronic disease in that organ. 
Presuming the' description to be correct, the disease must 
have existed some months ; but I say that the symptoms 
during the life of the horse, if it had been suffering from 
heart disease, would have been so marked that they could not 
possibly have escaped observation. The horse would have 
been totally incapable of physical exertion, such as it is de- 
scribed to have gone through — and would have given un- 
mistakeable evidence of his case. The disease, under any 
circumstances, must have been the result of acute inflam- 
matory affection at some period in the life of the horse. 
Death, when it is the result of disease of the heart, is gene- 
rally very sudden ; but I don’t believe that the cause of 
death in this case was disease of the heart. 
Lord Campbell, in summing up, told the jury that the de- 
fence in this case cast no imputation whatever on the plaintiff, 
who had, at any rate, sold the horse under the impression 
that it was sound. If, however, it were diseased at the time, 
the plaintiff, having warranted it, could not recover. It was 
for the jury, therefore, to consider from the evidence whether 
the horse died from a complaint which existed at the time 
of its sale. 
The Jury, after some deliberation, returned a verdict for 
the Plaintiff. 
