414 
EDITORIAL REMARKS. 
the strap being drawn out so much further, there will, of course, be 
double the force continually dragging at his head. We cannot 
suppose that such pulling can be either agreeable or indifferent to a 
horse ; on the contrary, it cannot but more or less annoy him, and, 
together with the creaking of the spring, which will be sure to be 
heard by him every time he happens to move his head, cannot 
fail, we should opine, materially to disturb his repose. For these 
reasons we cannot feel favourably disposed towards the spring 
halter box ; though we are quite ready to award its inventor 
every credit for so neat and clever a contrivance. 
THE VETERINARIAN, JULY 1, 1848. 
Ne quid falsi dicere audeat, ne quid veri non audeat. — CiCEno. 
Mr. Broad’s “ Case of Hock Lameness and Fracture of the 
Tibia,” contained in our present number, is both curious and in- 
structive — curious, as an example of disease rare among horses ; 
instructive, particularly to junior practitioners, as an example of a 
horse’s leg being broken for several days without creating any sus- 
picion in the minds of those who look after him, or even evincing 
any signs to the veterinary surgeon in attendance upon him, that 
such is the nature of the case. In the instance before us, it is 
evident there had taken place in the tibia of both limbs certain 
changes of texture or composition, rendering them preternaturally 
liable to fracture ; and this predisposition it was, clearly enough, 
that led to the breaking of the tibia in the off leg, and which 
would, had the animal survived, as certainly have led to the pro- 
duction of fracture in the near. All that casting the horse had to 
do with the broken leg was simply the separation and displacement 
of the ends of the fractured shaft of the bone ; the smooth and 
polished aspect of the fractured edges plainly shewing that “ the 
fracture had happened previously to her (the mare’s) being operated 
on.” 
In support of this, Mr. Broad’s opinion, two cases at the moment 
occur to our mind, of which, since they happened in our own prac- 
