274 
VKTERINAllY JURISPRUDENCE. 
We have received the following case from a correspondent, who 
solicits our opinion with regard to it. We have been fortunate 
enough to obtain the sentiments of two veterinary practitioners 
of deserved eminence. The name of one of them we reluctantly 
withhold. There is considerable difficulty in the case, and parti¬ 
cularly as to the degree of catarrh, the peculiar symptoms which 
might have attended it, the extent to which the bleeding and phy- 
sickings might have been carried, and the state of the horse during 
the intervening fortnight. It is a case which no one can answer 
decisively without actual inspection of the patient; but, on the 
whole, we confess we strongly incline to the opinion of Mr. 
Turner. 
CASE. 
A cart horse, five years old, is bought of a dealer, warranted 
sound ; he has a slight cold when purchased ; he is worked mo¬ 
derately three or four days, when one of the hind legs swells, 
for which he is bled and has a dose of physic, which, however, 
does not reduce the enlargement. He is not put to work again, 
but in about a fortnight from the time of sale a veterinary sur¬ 
geon is sent for, and finds him affected with decided and virulent 
farcy. Is not the horse returnable V’ 
Had this swelling of the hind leg proceeded merely from 
common phlegmonous inflammation, occasioned by plethora, or 
any temporary disturbance of the balance of the circulation, the 
bloodletting and purging in all probability would have removed 
it; and even if the treatment had failed, such a casualty ought 
to have been borne by the buyer; but the result shews that the 
said swelling, which appeared so early as the fourth day after the 
sale, was injiammation of a specific character^ and the first mani¬ 
festation of an insidious disease, viz. ^‘virulent farcy,which 
must have been lurking in the system for weeks before the day 
of sale. 
I am, therefore, of opinion, that in point of equity the buyer 
ought to recover, and that the horse is returnable; although I 
am not unaware of the numerous perplexities and difficulties 
with which such a case must be beset before it arrives at the 
crisis when it is handed over to the twelve gentlemen of the 
jury for decision."' t ^ rr 
^ JamesIurner. 
five-year old horse passing from the dealer's hands into 
a purchaser’s, and having a cold at the time, is fed and put to 
work indiscriminately along with other horses. An inflammatory 
diathesis, if not already present, speedily manifests itself in his 
