SOUNDNESS IN HORSES. 
• * — _ \ I 
contradiction, that I am tlie second (among English writers) who 
has ventured to tread the same arduous course : permit me, then, 
to claim, on that account, at least, the lenity and indulgence of 
the Society for the present paper. 
Soundness forms the question (to the exclusion, almost, of all 
otheis) which is eternally dragging us into courts of justice ; a 
situation in which our professional character is often put at stake, 
while we, under the most trying circumstances, are called on to 
defend it. It therefore behoves the veterinarian to arm himself 
at all points ; and not only for his own individual reputation, but 
foi the respectability of the profession altogether : for, what scene 
can be more derogatory—what more disgraceful—than one where 
two respectable members of the same profession are seen evi¬ 
dencing—ay, and swearing too ! —in direct contradiction, the one 
to the other. What can this arise from, but a want of some mu¬ 
tual understanding or explanation ? What can remedy it, but the 
cultivation of a branch of knowledge which has been, greatly to 
our discredit, almost totally neglected, viz. Veterinary Juris¬ 
prudence ? 
And what renders such a study the more imperative upon us, is, 
the notorious defectiveness on this point of the “ law of the land/ 7 
m which transactions of the kind are almost daily occurring. 
“ Nullum iniquum in jure praesumendum est,” 
is a maxim for which I myself entertain all due respect; but 
perhaps no instance could be adduced where it appears less en¬ 
titled to it than the one before us. 
In order that I may subject myself to as little subsequent mis¬ 
apprehension as possible, I would beg permission to make an in¬ 
troductory remark or two on the term “ sound.” It is an epithet 
of extensive and various application, and conveys quite different 
meanings according to the sense in which it is used. The phrase 
“ soundness,” in equestrian language, in so far as it implies 
freedom from disease, appears to have been derived from the Latin 
word sanus , which has an etymological relation to sanguis, the 
blood : hence, 
“ Sana mens in corpore sano,” 
we may take to be a concise definition of what one would be led 
to look for in a man said to be sound or effective. 
Applied to the horse, however, the epithet seems to imply 
something more than abstract freedom from disease: it impresses 
us with the idea that the animal is not only in health, but is ex¬ 
empt from certain defects and liabilities which may or do render 
him ineffective. When our dramatic bard exclaims, 
“ He hath a heart as sound as a bell,” 
