430 ON THE DISEASES OF THE HORSES IN CANADA. 
stand or perhaps to care about the business, and, being but a 
poor donkey, veterinary advice was not thought of. I am glad 
that I was in the neighbourhood, and that I happened to have 
met an acquaintance who desired me to give a charitable call, and 
lend my assistance, which I immediately did ; and it has turned 
out greatly to my satisfaction, and, I believe, to that of all who saw 
the performance. I immediately extracted the placenta, and, as the 
animal was in a rather exhausted state, gave a little tinct. opii et 
spt. nit. sether, which had an almost magical effect in causing her 
to rally. From this time she rapidly recovered, and is now doing 
well. The thanks of the poor widow, and the expressions of good 
wishes to me for the preservation of her “ little all”, as she called 
it, completely recompensed me for my trouble. 
ON THE DISEASES OF THE HORSES IN CANADA. 
Second Letter from Mr. Charles to Mr. WILLIAM Percivall. 
Montreal, May 27, 1847. 
My dear William, — I NOW send you an account of a broken- 
necked and a broken-legged horse ; a description of three her- 
maphrodites ; and an article I copied from the ** New York Spirit of 
the Times ,” on taming vicious horses. 
Dislocation or Fracture of the Cervical Vertebra. 
When in Upper Canada last summer, on my return from New- 
market to Toronto, a horse tied up to a roadside public house, 
about five miles from the latter place, attracted my notice, from 
the distorted appearance of his neck, which, on examination, left 
no doubt on my mind but that the vertebra had either been frac- 
tured or dislocated. Upon inquiring for the owner, I found he was 
a pedlar, both deaf and dumb, consequently I could not obtain any 
information from him ; but the ostler informed me that the horse 
had “ broken his neck” by falling into a ditch which he attempted 
to jump when turned out to grass; and that, when the accident 
happened, he was either three or four years old, and belonged to 
a gentleman at Toronto, but did not know his name. On the off 
side of the neck there was a considerable protuberance, with a 
cicatrix the breadth of a man’s hand, and, of course, a correspond- 
ing cavity on the near side, in which a quartern loaf might have 
been placed. The head was carried very low down, inclining to 
the near side, and turned rather backwards. 
