STRAY PAPERS ON VETERINARY JURISPRUDENCE. 541 
required duty with zeal, honesty, and punctuality, you will, 
1 trust, live in good fellowship with all men. 
On no point will your professional knowledge and reputation 
be more severely put to the test than in the examination of 
horses; — to collect and give effect to the facts already ascertained 
relating thereto is the object of veterinary jurisprudence. 
It is well-known that, in the sale of horses, certain terms 
have been made use of to denote the nature and qualifications 
of the animal : these are shortly expressed by the words “ sound, 
and free from vice.” For the prevention of fraud (of which in 
horse dealing there is no little) and for the benefit and security 
of the purchaser various laws have been made which may be 
compressed under the heads of sale and warranty. The first 
contains the conditions necessary to constitute a legal transfer of 
the property and the means by which fraud may be detected and 
punished. The second details the nature and effect of a war- 
ranty, representing how, in the event of the animal not proving 
w'hat was expressed, the purchaser may obtain redress. These 
laws we shall consider in a future paper. 
The principal question upon which the consideration and judg- 
ment of the veterinary surgeon is required, relates to the sound- 
ness of the animal, and the possession of the requisite qualifica- 
tions for the duties demanded from him ; and as, upon a question 
of such importance, it is impossible that any man’s opinion should 
be more looked up to than those who from their studies are sup- 
posed to possess the means of detecting any variation in the 
healthy and natural structure of the animal frame, it is of the 
greatest moment that you rightly understand the meaning of 
the question, in order that you may be enabled to give a satis- 
factory answer. To do this, you first acquaint yourselves with the 
meaning of the terms used. 
No words could, perhaps, be fixed upon in the English lan- 
guage to express the different qualifications required in an espe- 
cial manner in an animal like the horse, than the words sound 
and soundness. On reference to your dictionary, you will find 
that “ sound” means healthy, right, stout, hearty ; “ soundness/ 
health, truth, solidity. 
In stating that a horse is sound, we understand then that he 
is healthy, free from sickness and disease; right, suitable, true; 
stout , hearty ; if unsound, either not free from disease, not right, 
not stout, nor hearty. 
You would naturally suppose that no great difference of opinion 
could prevail on a point like this ; but you will find your sup- 
position sadly incorrect. You will hear one asserting this to be 
soundness, another holding the very contrary opinion to be the 
VOL. XIV. 4 B 
