EDITORIAL REMARKS. 415 
tice, we can vouch for the narratives being correct. They are 
these : — 
A brown thorough-bred horse, who, though not absolutely vicious 
yet was perfectly ill-tempered and trustless, was, in being led out 
for exercise, hanging back in his snaffle bridle, leering slily upon 
the horse walking (likewise at exercise) behind him, when at length, 
with one hind foot, he managed to strike the horse, following too 
close to him, upon the near arm. We happened to be present at 
the moment of the accident, and witnessed it, and saw that the 
kicked horse limped exceedingly the instant he had received the 
blow, — indeed, to that degree, that we had made up our mind to 
the limb being fractured. Still, the animal hobbled along, con- 
tinuing to bear a certain amount of weight upon it, and walked a 
distance of three hundred yards to reach the infirmary, and in doing 
this, to our surprise, by degrees stepped so much the less lamely 
that by the time he had reached his stable we began to feel pleased 
at our suspicions appearing to be unfounded. Considering it, there- 
fore, after all, but the effects of “ a rap upon the bone,” fomentation 
was ordered, and a dose of physic. The tub used for the fomen- 
tation, however, happening to be what is called “ a high tub,” the 
lifting of the leg into it caused some little resistance on the part of 
the horse, who was naturally shy, and the result was the displace- 
ment of the broken shaft of the os humeri : the fracture — for 
fracture it turned out — proving to have been a very oblique one. 
The next case bears closer upon the point we are desirous to 
elucidate. A troop-horse was admitted on the 18th January, 
1842, for “ kick, inner side, off thigh,” and treated by fomenta- 
tions, physic, and walking exercise daily. All went on apparently 
well for several days, with the exception of the external wound, 
and that, instead of healing, had a sloughy aspect, and kept dis- 
charging a thin sanious matter. This, it was considered, might 
proceed from some injury to the bone, but no fracture was sus- 
pected ; when, to our surprise, on the morning of the 26th of the 
month, eight days from the receipt of the kick, while the man 
was washing the wound with some warm water out of a pail, the 
animal — probably from feeling at the moment extreme sorness in 
the wound — struck the pail violently with the hind foot of the in- 
