REVIEW — THE LAW CONCERNING HORSES, RACING, &C. 465 
the combined talent of men of both the legal and medical profes- 
sions. Imagine a learned judge rising from the bench, and telling 
the jury that it was the cost or price of the horse that ought to 
deftide the question of his soundness ; or a veterinary professor in 
the witness-box saying that all and every Alteration of structure 
constituted unsoundness ! How lamentably does this shew the want 
of a system of veterinary jurisprudence ; how much it tells for — 
that which ought not to be — “ the glorious uncertainty of the law !” 
Horse-dealing and racing, and gambling transactions connected 
therewith, have of late years proved rather fruitful sources of emo- 
lument to the gentlemen of the law ; horses being, for the most p&rt, 
chattels of that value, and the buyers and sellers of them persons in 
general of that property that can well afford to pay for litigation ; 
to which indeed the latter — for that very reason perhaps — seem 
somewhat more disposed than other classes of people. Were a 
horse a fixed body, unchanging and unchangeable, the same as the 
saddle he bears upon his back, or the bridle by which he is guided, 
or any other article of man’s make, then indeed might he be bought 
and sold with the same certainty and good faith with which manu- 
factured property exchanges owners ; but being, as he is, a vital 
orgasm of too complex a structure to be thoroughly comprehended, 
even by those who study it most, and over which those who pro- 
fess to understand it best have but an indirect control, is it a 
matter of surprise that what is in order to-day should be out of 
order to-morrow ? or to be wondered at that we should so often be 
found disputing concerning whether it be or be not in order, and 
what the nature of such disorder is when admitted to be present ? 
In his dealings in horses, as in every thing else, the man of means 
is ever running after a sound and perfect animal, forgetting that 
perfection in horseflesh is no more to be had, ready-made to his 
hand, than perfection in his own or any other animal kind. Be- 
hold what difficulty the artist labours under at the time he is 
seeking about for a model of a man for imitation with his brush 
or chisel ! The regiments of grenadiers can furnish him with tall, 
fin e-looking men, but not one in twenty or even fifty of them 
will be found to come up to his ideal standard of perfection. Or, 
let a medical man have to “ pass” men as effective for any service 
or force, and how few will he find free from defect or blemish, 
though many of the imperfections be such as may not deteriorate 
from their efficiency ! Exactly so it is with horses. Taking the 
word sound to imply perfection or freedom from all defect and 
blemish, how very few horses after they have been any time in 
use, supposing even they were sound originally, will bear the test 
of examination and trial ! 
We attach the greatest importance to this point, soundness, 
