710 
DEFENCE OF THE ODD MODE OF 
there was absolute indication of the necessity of it; but I merely 
abstracted the blood, in order to lessen any pressure on the brain, 
which I supposed might possibly exist. 
DEFENCE OF THE OLD MODE OF TYING UP A 
HORSE AFTER BEING BLISTERED. 
By Mr. Mayer, V.S., Newcastle-under-Lyne. 
Having observed in The Veterinarian for July 1839, the 
singular and unjust verdict arrived at by the jury, in the trial be¬ 
twixt Hopkinson v. Thomas, to recover damages for a blemish 
occurring in blistering a horse, in consequence, as the jury consi¬ 
dered, of the horse being improperly tied up with his head to the 
rack, instead of being reversed, thereby injuring the knee from 
striking it against the manger, I have considered it my duty to 
send you the following observations and case, in order to shew the 
marked injustice done to Mr. Thomas in that verdict. 
I perfectly agree with you, Mr. Editor, that four-fifths of the 
veterinary surgeons pursue Mr. Thomas’s practice, from knowing 
it to be the safest. I have been some years in the profession, and 
never, that I recollect, had a single accident or blemish from tying 
horses up to the rack under the effects of blister; but I have seen 
very bad consequences from reversing them in the stalls, independent 
of the great risk run in having the points of the hock injured and 
capped. The following case is one in point, and which, had it 
been done under the direction of a veterinary surgeon instead of 
the owner, and the latter had thought proper to have brought his 
action against him for damages, I do not hesitate to assert that the 
very same jury would have arrived at an opposite conclusion, and 
decided against the poor vet. because the horse was not tied up 
with his head to the rack. 
It was a valuable hunter, belonging to Charles Ford, Esq. a 
well known thorough-going Cheshire sportsman, which, after the 
season was over, was cooled down, and blistered upon both fore¬ 
legs. Being a high-couraged horse, it was thought that he would 
injure his knees if tied up to the rack, so he was reversed in the 
stall, and fastened by the checks of the bridle to the stall-posts. 
While in this position, he made a sudden rush forwards, and re¬ 
ceiving consequently a sudden check, his hinder extremities slip¬ 
ped from under him and he fell with considerable violence on one 
side upon the bare stones. The next morning he was perceived 
to be slightly lame in the hip. He was blistered a few days after- 
