460 
SOUNDNESS IN HORSES* 
ness, be decided. What are called “the effects of disease/ 5 
therefore, need not trouble us longer than it will take us to deter¬ 
mine on the duties or capacities of the parts in which they are 
seated, or their interference with the whole : so, it will be found, 
that what at one time constitutes unsoundness, and may therefore 
be viewed in the light of disease, at another time exists in perfect 
compatibility with the natural powers and capabilities of the ma¬ 
chine, and therefore is not a cause of unsoundness. 
I find, however, I cannot deal with the “ seeds of disease” as I 
have dealt with its productions or effects. Most diseases arise 
gradually and imperceptibly: they are such in nature as to 
render it impossible for us to determine on the precise time of 
their origin; and very difficult for us even to speak with correct¬ 
ness of their duration, unless aided by personal report. A single 
and simple deviation from health may turn out to be the fore¬ 
runner of some fatal malady; or, one disease, involving no danger 
in itself, may lead to the development of another, dangerous 
and irremediable. These lapses occurring in horses at the time 
they are passing from vender to purchaser, and referred to us for 
arbitration, present us with difficulties of no ordinary concern 
and magnitude. One horse, who is sold with a simple catarrh 
upon him, is made returnable to the vender in a state of pneu¬ 
monia, because “ the seeds” of that disease are said to have 
been germinating along with the catarrh; and the cost of another 
horse, who at the time of purchase was, to every appearance, 
in perfect health, is held to be recoverable after he is dead , 
because dissection of the body proves that disease must have 
existed prior to the coming of the animal into the possession of 
the purchaser. 
Before I attempt to surmount this difficulty (for surmounted it 
must be before the question of returnability can be decided), I 
would fain glance at another side of the subject, and see how the 
affair stands in the petty or ordinary transactions of life. A man, 
e. g. takes a bad shilling unconsciously, and afterwards discovers 
it, and can swear of whom he took it: the shilling is returnable, 
notwithstanding it was passed without any warrantyy; and justly 
so, because by the contract it was implied that the coin was that 
of the “standard of the realm.” 
But, suppose a person buys a decanter which at the time of 
the purchase he knows to be (what is phrased) “starred;” and 
that this star (which is but a blemish —not a defect , inasmuch as 
the vessel continues perfectly wine-worthy) by use or accident 
becomes converted into, or gives rise to, a crack , letting out the 
contents : is the decanter in this state returnable ? I conceive, 
not. Had the vessel been carried back to the vender with the star 
