AND THE DUTY OF THE VETERINARY SURGEON. 147 
I state, that of these, nineteen cases out of twenty are owing to 
this disease in the upper articulation of the hock just spoken of, 
and which may, therefore, be accompanied with enlargement 
or not. 
I had a horse, about twelve months since, brought to me for 
examination, he having been warranted sound ; and the seller 
had assured the purchaser that the horse was only six years old, 
fresh on his legs, and quiet in harness. On looking him over, 
1 instantly detected a spavin circumscribed and distinctly visi- 
ble on the off hock — his fore legs too were extremely shaky and 
knuckling , rendering him very unsafe — he would not go in har- 
ness ; and, to complete the catalogue of deceptions, on looking 
into his mouth I found he had been bishoped. The two front 
lower incisors were smooth, but marks were in the other four, 
thus presenting the appearance of a six-year old. 
I immediately (to shew the nature of the deception) erased 
with a small file the marks from the corner tooth on one side, 
and the middle tooth on the other ; and desired the owner, when 
he presented the certificate of unsoundness (w hich I gave him on 
account of the spavin), to ask the horsedealer to account, if he 
could, for the very singular appearance of the teeth. The gen- 
tleman was fortunate enough to recover his money, with but 
little expense. Now here was a case, in which out of four 
serious faults the spavin was the least, for it was not likely to 
occasion lameness ; yet it was this least of faults that alone 
enabled me to certify unsoundness, and the purchaser to return 
the horse. 
On the subject of splents there are but shades of difference 
between soundness and unsoundness, and no one, I think, can 
venture to draw the line of demarcation with his pen. A moiety 
of our horses, perhaps, possess splents in some degree, and it is 
only from our judgment and experience that we are able to tell 
whether they are likely to occasion lameness. I should say that, 
if they are large or near the knee, they ought to be considered 
as constituting unsoundness. 
Then, with regard to corns, one practitioner may not discover 
any, but another, having the shoes removed, spies them out. But 
do they necessarily constitute unsoundness ? They may be so 
slight and insignificant that we may at once decide that they are 
not likely to affect the horse, or injure him in any degree ; and 
therefore we may consider him as sound. But, then, there are 
corns of every shade and degree, from the slightest speck of 
ecchymosis to the most serious evil ; and difficult indeed is it to 
decide the exact line which forms the barrier between soundness 
and unsoundness in many of these cases. I mention these 
