30 
ON HOCK I.AMENESS 
While writing on this point, I must allude to the very off* 
hand condemnation contained in a communication from an 
anonymous correspondent in the last November number, who 
signs himself A. B. He says, ** Instead of examining a dozen 
healthy hocks, and telling us the result, Mr. Spooner proceeds to 
argue the matter. He supposes a bruise to occur where it cannot 
possibly occur; and afterwards announces change upon change, 
as if he had actually seen them every one.” Now, we would 
suppose that such a profoundly logical reasoner as the writer 
would have us suppose him to be—one who scorns an hypothesis 
and despises a theory—would at any rate be extremely careful that 
the assertions he himself makes, and on which he reasons, are at 
least no otherwise than strict and insurmountable facts. But let 
us see whether this is the case, when he says, that I suppose a 
bruise to occur where it cannot possibly occur. He believes, of 
course, that the parts I allude to do not come in contact with 
each other. Now, I beg to state that, so far from this being an 
unfounded hypothesis, 1 have in many hocks tested it by actual 
experiment. 1 have chalked or otherwise marked the ridge of the 
tibia on its central part; and on pressing it and the astragalus 
together, even with the limited pressure my hands could exercise 
(of course, vastly inferior to that displayed by the horse), the 
marks have appeared in the groove of the astragalus, shewing 
that the parts touched each other. This experiment I have re¬ 
peated on several hocks, and whether the chalk, &c. were applied 
to the astragalus or the tibia, the corresponding result ensued. 
In those hocks where the lesions of the tibia existed, the chalk 
would not adhere to the surface of the indentations, but it did 
readily to the borders of these cavities. The same result that 
attended this experiment in my hands would no doubt take place 
in that of others, and should be tried by this profound reasoner, 
before he again teaches students the way to reason, or, at any 
rate, before he takes his degrees as Professor of Logic. 
With regard to the dozen healthy hocks which this writer says 
I ought to have examined after Mr. Dick’s paper, I beg to assure 
him that a dozen hocks that are knowm to have been healthy, 
are not so easily procured in these parts as he would seem to 
imagine ; but I have not lost sight of what opportunities have 
come in my way, nor do I intend doing so in future. This wri¬ 
ter, however, does not appear to understand the real subject of 
argument. With regard to whether the lesions I have pointed 
out are or are not to be considered cases of ulceration, I care 
not a straw. I will not argue about terms, but will have no ob¬ 
jection whatever to consider, if the authorities will have it so, 
that they are instances of abrasion and absorption of substance. 
