572 
ON VETERINARY JURISPRUDENCE. 
with hooves not contracted ;—that said horse was noways dis¬ 
figured in his appearance by cutting or otherwise.” “ That he 
knows a complaint in horses called sleepy staggers; that this 
complaint is not like the chords, because a horse labouring 
under sleepy staggers can bend his head to the ground, while a 
horse labouring under the chords cannot. That he knows a 
disease in horses called strangles ; that the strangles is quite dis¬ 
tinct from any of the other two complaints just mentioned, and 
does not approximate to either. That the chords or tetanus is a 
disease which can be cured by proper treatment.” I shall here 
let the report and the evidence speak for themselves, and pro¬ 
ceed now to notice, that Mr. Cowie doubts (as before stated) 
whether the horse in question laboured under “ the chords'’ at all. 
He does this because some of the witnesses say, that the brain 
seemed to be affected, the horse occasionally staggering; and 
because he recollects a similar case which occurred at the College, 
during his pupillage, of a stout chestnut horse being affected 
with what may be described as chronic staggers ; and (he goes 
on to state) “ I recollect seeing him morning after morning being 
taken out to grass for several successive weeks, with much incli¬ 
nation to eat, without the power of bending his head. Blundering 
and ignorant farriers and others might have called this a defect in 
the muscles of the neck, back, and loins, as well as what it really 
was,—a chronic disease of the brain.” Now this is ali very well 
in the way of mere assertion; but what proof, I ask, has Mr. 
Cowie given to shew that this was not a case of chords : let him 
shew it. Mr. Cowie, it would appear, has not been long enough 
in practice to have met with a case of chords, or at least does not 
know diseases under that name: I must, therefore, inform him, 
that the term chords is in very general use throughout many 
parts of Scotland, and is applied to a variety of diseases. This 
accounts for the different descriptions of the disease given in this 
case by the various witnesses. From what source the term has 
been derived I am unable fully to explain ; but it appears to be 
more from the symptoms of the disease than from anything I can 
find ; and in this farriers are borne out by the example of others. 
Thus the term chordee is so derived by the French ; and we find 
farcy described as the chords, because it is said “ the veins are 
chorded.” A weed is termed the chords, because “the leg is 
swelled and the vessels corded.” We find tetanus called the 
chords, because “ the neck is corded.” The strangles are called 
the chords, because “ the throat is swelled and chorded.” These 
are phrases in common use, and must have been met with by 
every practitioner in Scotland ; but the term is also applied to 
the case in question, and is not less appropriate than many 
