298 
VETERINARY JURISPRUDENCE. 
power of bending his head. Blundering and ignorant farriers, 
or others, might have called his a defect in the muscles of the 
neck, back, and loins, or a diminution in the length of the 
neck, as well as what it really was,—a chronic disease in the 
brain alone. 
The treatment of this poor animal, as deponed to by the farriers, 
affords but a comparatively slight example of the empiricism and 
presumptuous credulity of that description of practitioners who 
pretend to be the life preservers of “ fair Scotland’s flocks and 
herds,”—the labourers and inhabitants of the soil. Had not the 
horse got better, the specific remedy for chords would have been 
adopted; viz. cutting asunder the tendon of the muscle near its 
insertion at the point of the nose (the levator labii superioris^), 
which, they say, would have slackened the neck and loins, as it 
(this muscle) rises from the root of the tail, runs along the back 
and neck , and climbs behind the ear; and thus, from its extent 
and obstinacy, keeps tight the chords of the neck!! This history 
I have got from several farriers who have performed the opera¬ 
tion, and who believe in its efficacy. 
It is needless to notice the evidence of Smith and Attenbur- 
row ; they both confound one disease with another, without un¬ 
derstanding either;—“ nothing more likely to be produced from 
over-exertion than strangles in any horse, whether old or young.” 
—Fudge !«—Yet they only correspond with the majority of the 
collective tribe on the occasion. But these are all men of ex¬ 
perience ; and we are told that, on that account, they deserve 
confidence. True ; but what is the amount of their practice and 
experience? Do they not bleed on all occasions? Do they not 
purge on all occasions, at least so far as castor oil ean effect it ? 
And do they not employ the same remedy for the same disease 
in all its stages ? 
I will, however, return to and finish the subject of chords :— 
The treatment as recommended by Mr. Dick is simple, and if 
it be successful, its simplicity is an additional recommendation 
to its adoption ; but, if I may be allowed to hazard an opinion in 
opposition to that of such an eminent pathologist as Mr. Dick, 
I should recommend more energetic remedies.—Why should 
they not correspond in kind, if not in degree, to those employed 
in tetanus? What objection can there be to a smart bleeding— 
purging instead of laxative medicine, with the addition of ano¬ 
dynes, counter-irritation, &c. &c. ? 
A licentiate of Mr. Dick’s informs me that he has seen two 
or three cases of chords, and that he treated them successfully 
upon Mr. Dick’s plan, with the addition of a blister along the 
neck; so that upon the whole, notwithstanding my remarks, the 
lenient treatment may be the better of the two. Certainly no¬ 
thing of an efficient nature was done to the horse in question. 
