66 
VETERINARY JURISPRUDENCE. 
Samuel Sheward, jun., went to Hertford, to serve a subpoena 
on a person named Rowell, from whom his father bought this horse. 
He was a-bed, ill with a brain fever. 
Verdict for the plaintiff, with damages, £174. 
This trial involves in it two or three rather important points of 
veterinary jurisprudence. 
Captain Martin, of the 2d Life Guards, buys a high-priced horse 
from Mr. Sheward on the 24th of June, 1840. The usual warranty 
was given, and it is still affirmed by the defendant that the horse 
was perfectly sound, with the exception of a small osselet on the 
inside of the hock, and of which no notice was taken by either the 
buyer or the seller. 
The horse is moderately exercised, and goes on very well until 
the 13th of July, when he became exceedingly lame. He was 
accordingly submitted to the inspection of Mr. Home, the vete- 
rinary surgeon of the regiment, who found that there was a depo- 
sition of bony matter around the coronets of both feet, and this 
arising from previous inflammation, and the existence and state 
of the bone proving that the evil was of more than three weeks’ 
growth. He likewise found that the fore feet were hot and much 
contracted, and also that there was spavin of the near hock. He 
recommended Captain Martin to have farther advice on the busi- 
ness, and the horse was taken to the Veterinary College. 
He was examined there by the Assistant Professor, Mr. Spooner, 
who recognized at once the existence of the spavin, and found the 
animal lame in both fore legs, and particularly the near one. He 
found the feet very hot, and discovered that a portion of the carti- 
lages had been converted into bone, and he believed that this mor- 
bid structure was the cause of the lameness, and would probably 
hereafter not only interfere with the functions of the hocks, but 
cause occasional lameness, for by no process could the bone be ab- 
sorbed and elastic cartilage deposited in its place. He likewise 
observed an evident enlargement on the inside of the limb below 
the knee. 
In reply to the Judge, he stated that the elasticity of the hock 
was interfered with, and to a certain degree destroyed, by the ex- 
istence of spavin, and the horse either rendered positively lame, or 
more liable to become so. 
The horse had alsa been examined by Mr. Turner, who was 
ready to speak of its lameness, and the serious character of that 
lameness, and the cause of which must have existed long before 
the sale of the animal. 
