72 AN ESSAY ON THE CONDITION OF HORSES, &c. 
was not a very dangerous one. The horse being cast and the 
windpipe opened, a whalebone probang, with a small piece of 
sponge on the end of it, was passed downward and upward ; 
and as it passed up through the larynx, the horse gave a violent 
convulsive struggle, when, as I was resting with my knee against 
his back, I heard a noise and felt a sudden snap, which, when 
the animal was unloosed, proved to have been a fracture of the 
spine, notwithstanding some jokes at the expense of the Scots- 
man when I first mentioned my suspicion. The horse being un- 
able to rise, was of course destroyed, and I, assisted by another 
student, dissected him. We found on the anterior part of the 
epiglottis, as in the case I have given, a tumour about the size of 
a pigeon’s egg, connected in the same manner under the mucous 
membrane by a long loose neck of cellular membrane, which 
might have been removed in the manner already described, had 
its existence been indicated previous to the death of the animal. 
On examination, the tumour in the case I have operated on 
has proved to be an encysted or oetheromatous tumour, similar 
to those found in the human scalp, having a dense fibrous cap- 
sule, and containing a quantity of albuminous matter. 
AN ESSAY ON THE CONDITION OF HORSES, &c. 
By Mr. James Turner, Regent-street. 
[it is with great pleasure that we find ourselves permitted to in- 
sert this truly valuable and characteristic Essay on the Con- 
dition of Horses. Twenty years have passed since it was first 
given to the public ; and during many a year since that period 
it has been altogether out of print. Our readers will thank 
us for availing ourselves of the kind permission of the author 
to place it once more in that position which it so well deserves 
to occupy.] 
Disease undoubtedly renders a great number of horses in 
this country ineffective, particularly if safety of action, strength 
and speed are required of them : but there is an evil more pre- 
valent, which more immediately clogs the springs and renders 
impotent the powers of the horse than even disease itself ; — I mean 
the want of Condition. 
The term Condition in respect to horses implies the acquisition 
of extraordinary strength, accompanied with lightness of the 
animal frame, by which the muscular fibre is enabled to contract 
