VETERINARY JURISPRUDENCE. 
291 
velopment ranged from three to six weeks, and this fact coincided remark- 
ably with the present case. The learned counsel then read several letters 
which passed between the plaintiff and the defendant. In reply to a com- 
munication from the plaintiff to the defendant, written on the 20th of 
October, 1857, he (defendant) stated “that he had had no sickness amongst 
his cattle for two or three years ; that lot No. 11 were not fed upon the same 
farm as the others had been ; that the latter, which he had since, were year- 
lings, and had been fed in Roscommon, where no sickness had been for 
three years; that lot No. 11 had been bought last April with others which 
had been sold only in September to the butchers at Ballinasloe, and that 
there had net been any complaint from any quarter in reference to them/’ 
The plaintiff examined more closely lot No. 11, and discovered that they 
could not have been reared by the defendant. Some of them had different 
brands, and some were not branded at all. This lot he separated from the 
others. He kept lot No. 11 at the farm to which they had first goue, and 
lie scattered the rest among his other farms. The result, however, was that 
the infection spread. On the 1st of November, 1857, the plaintiff wrote to 
the defendant, stating that he was sorry at being obliged to inform him that 
he had four of the heifers of lot No. 11 very bad with the lung distemper — 
that there must have been some disease in that lot for a considerable time, 
although he (defendant) might not have been aware of the fact, and that he 
was preparing to send them by a float, as the railway company would not 
take sick cattle in their trucks. The defendant did not answer these or 
other letters. There was a complete examination of lot No. 11. A Mr. 
Shaughnessy acted on behalf of the defendant. The plaintiff said that 
there must have been some disease amongst the cattle. Shaughnessy was 
rather reserved in his manner, but lie said he was certain the defendant 
could have warranted every lot from No. ] to No. 10. It would seem that 
lot No. 11 was a mixed lot, which had been collected for the purpose of 
rapid sale. It was arranged that the cattle should be shipped to Liverpool, 
and disposed of there. A proposition was made to leave the matter to the 
arbitration of two respectable and experienced gentlemen; but this was not 
carried into effect. On the 27th of November, 1857, a letter was written 
by the plaintiff to Mr. Shaughnessy, telling him that he had been obliged to 
ship six of the heifers that day, and three of them on the previous day, in all 
eleven ; and that “it was surely madness in the defendant not to give in- 
structions to him in reference to what he desired to be done with the re- 
mainder, as the loss would and must eventually fall upon him” (defendant). 
On the 28th November, 1857, another letter was written by the plaintiff to 
the defendant, to which there was not any reply. Upon the 30th of Novem- 
ber another letter followed, complaining that six more of the cattle were ill, 
and informing him that he should send them off that very night, requiring 
instructions as to what he should do with the cattle, and expressing his firm 
conviction that all of them would die. After this the plaintiff announced 
that three more of the beasts were sick of the distemper, and that prompt 
measures were required on the part of the defendant, otherwise they could 
not be rescued from the disease, and the loss consequent upon the distemper 
could not be averted. 
The plaintiff deposed as follows : He is an extensive grazier, holding 
about 1,500 acres of land, chiefly in Carlow and Kildare; he had known 
the defendant nearly three years; he was a large stock proprietor; on the 
2d of August he bought about ten bullocks from Mr. J. Hudson, at his 
place, near Athlone; these were afterwards sent home along with the cattle 
purchased from the defendant; the 8th of October was the black cattle fair day 
at Ballinasloe ; the defendant had a particular stand by the boundary wall of 
the fair ground, in lots of thirty, so that they were completely separated 
