VETERINARY MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE. 109 
present moment. It will be seen that Veterinary Jurisprudence 
has been shamefully neglected in his country as well as in ours; 
but when the heads of the profession are beginning publicly and 
zealously to bestir themselves, we may hope for reformation there, 
and we may likewise hope that our professors will begin to feel 
the propriety—we would rather say, the necessity—of placing 
our medical jurisprudence on a more intelligible and rational, 
and, consequently, a firmer basis. The decisions of our sur¬ 
geons—nay, of our professors—are, too often, quite as much at 
variance as the “ usages” of the different provinces of France. 
Edit. 
Mr. President and Gentlemen, 
Before 1 narrate the transactions of this school during the 
last year, permit me to submit to you some rapid reflections on a 
subject, the importance of which, I hope, will supply the defi¬ 
ciency which must result from my inexperience. I would speak 
of the actual state of our laws with relation to the soundness 
of domesticated animals, and as applicable to commerce a 
grave question this, and one of high importance without doubt 
in political economy, since it involves the interests both of agri¬ 
culture and commerce. 
Being the organ, at the present moment, of the opinion of all 
my colleagues, the interpreter of the wishes of veterinary sur¬ 
geons in all parts of France, I wish that I may be able so truly 
and faithfully to sketch this part of our legislation, as to con¬ 
vince you, I will not say of its insufficiency, but of its deplorable 
effects on commerce, as it regards all our domestic animals, and 
more especially the horse. 
Anteriorly to the publication of the Civil Code, warranty, as 
as applicable to the sale of animals in every part of France, was 
regulated by usages , the origin of which is lost in the night of 
time. There was no unsoundness except that which was recog¬ 
nized by usage, and usage also prescribed the time within which 
an action on the warranty could be brought. 
To speak of the distant time when these usages commenced 
would be to prove that they must of necessity have been imper¬ 
fect, and that they could consist only in prejudices and errors. 
In fact, by whom where these unsoundnesses first determined in 
times of the most complete ignorance of the veterinary art? 
Why, certainly by men who were then supposed to be best ac¬ 
quainted with these animals. It was the grooms, the farriers, 
and the herdsmen of those periods, to whom the judges were 
VOL. VII. p 
