FISHER V. MATTHEWS 
545 
informed by tliese gentlemen, that I, Matthews, was, through the examination 
that had taken place, freed from any kind of charge whatever, and quite 
blameless. Mr. Hickman further said, that the horse had died of suffoca¬ 
tion, but the cause of it he was quite at a loss for. 
“The horse in question has been in bad habit ever since he came into Mr. 
Fisher’s possession. A very few months after he had him, he was seized 
with acute inflammation of the liver, and it was with great difficulty that he 
was saved. I was obliged to attend him night and day, with the assistance 
of Mr. Fisher’s servants. The horse remained very ill from April the 5th 
1833, up to the 19th of the same month, and every one that saw him thought 
it impossible for him to recover. Being a difficult horse to ball, we were 
obliged to give him all his medicine in a liquid form, and his lips, and all 
about his mouth, were at that time so much swollen and inflamed, as to pre¬ 
vent us from putting on a twitch or any other instrument to raise his head. 
We were obliged to raise it with the arm alone. 
“Ever since that attack the horse has been a delicate feeder, and when in 
the stable was never vvithout medicine to be given in his corn or mashes. 
He was very liable to retention of urine, or difficulty of staling. He was 
very much disfigured with bursal enlargements on all four legs, so much so 
as to occasion lameness. He had on each hock what are termed bog-spavins. 
I have repeatedly blistered all his legs, and applied charges to them more 
than once; and, last of all, on the l/th of October 1837, I 'vas obliged to 
apply the actual cautery, or fire him on his hind legs, in order to make him 
in any shape serviceable to his owner; after which he was turned out, and 
remained out until the beginning of April 1838, or the latter end of March. 
This horse,, according to my judgment, was more than twenty years old.” 
Such were the instructions which Mr. Matthews sent to his solicitors, 
Messrs. Stanley and Heane. They very properly determine to have the best 
veterinary advice on the subject, and, appending the following observations 
and the certificate of Mr. Hickman, they sent the whole to Mr. Coleman for 
his opinion. 
The question in this case is, whether the dose administered to the horse 
was com])osed of proper and fit ingredients, and whether, if so, it was pro¬ 
perly administered, and the horse skilfully treated. It should be stated, that 
this horse had frequently, while in the possession of Mr. Fisher, been under 
the treatment of Mr. Matthews, and that he was a most uncertain horse with 
his physic, whatever being given to him never acting for several days. In 
fact, he once had a dose of eight drachms of aloes wliich did not operate 
for three days. Another was given of nine drachms, and this not operating, 
Mr. Matthews after that took to give the horse croton oil and aloes. 
The dose complained of on the occasion, and whicli has given rise to this 
action, was composed of fifteen drops of croton—a fourth-part of a drachm 
—three drachms of Barbadoes aloes, and one drachm of ginger. 
For the efficacy and safety of administering croton oil, see from page 554 
to 559 of the second part of a series of Elementary Lectures on the Veteri¬ 
nary Art, by Mr. W. Percivall; also Blaine’s Treatise on the Veterinary Art, 
third edition, page fi/O ; and page 211 of the publication on The Horse, by 
the Society for the diffusion of Useful Knowledge. 
The following is a copy of Mr. Hickman’s certificate as to the cause of the 
horse’s death ;— 
'‘Shrewsbury, May 1, 1838. 
“Sir,—When I examined your horse on the 19th of April last, I found 
the stomach, small and large intestines, and the whole of the abdominal 
viscera perfecily healthy; but the larynx, epigh>tlis, trachea, and particularly 
the meml)ranc lining the windpipe, the bronchial tubes and lungs were in a 
