454 LIABILITIES OF VETERINARY SURGEONS. 
nor determine the amount or consequences of the spasm that 
must follow. 
In many instances a fatal result exposes the practitioner to 
a considerable pecuniary loss, or subjects him to the annoy¬ 
ance of legal proceedings, which, if they terminate in his 
favour, are not unattended with expense. 
We are led to these remarks in consequence of some cases 
lately brought under our notice; one instance we quote, from 
its extreme absurdity, the other as illustrating the point we 
intend to insist upon, viz., that in the present state of affairs 
it may be more convenient to submit to a manifest injustice 
than to assert a right at the expense of time and money. 
In the first case, a certain horse was brought to us for exa¬ 
mination by a purchaser; the opinion given was to the effect 
that the animal was sound, save a trifling and temporary 
defect, that was removed in a week or two. About six weeks 
subsequent to the examination we understand some disease 
appeared in the eyes. The convenient phrase ,“ of long stand¬ 
ing,” it seems, was applied by a looker-on, and upon this the 
owner kindly proposed that the opinion should be tested by 
competent authority, and if corroborated, that we should take 
a share of the loss which would be incurred by the sale of the 
animal in an unsound condition. 
The proposition was, as editors say, cc declined with 
thanks;” the request, nevertheless, stands as an amusing 
instance of what a professional man may expect to meet with 
occasionally. A threat of legal proceedings, of course, fol¬ 
lowed, but the matter dropped. What might be the nature of 
the disease attacking the horse, six weeks after the opinion 
was given ; in short, whether he had any eyes at all left at that 
time, are questions which we profess to be entirely unable to 
answer; but that a veterinary surgeon should be held for a 
moment responsible under these circumstances is surely a 
proof that the ridiculous has no limit. 
An old and well-known member of the profession recently 
related to us the next instance. 
In the course of his practice he happened to have a case of 
pleuro-pneumonia in a somewhat refractory subject. The 
attendant sent to administer medicine was instructed to 
obtain the assistance of the coachman, and to use every 
caution. It happened, however, that after a certain draught 
the patient fell, struggled, and died, may be from the excite¬ 
ment of the respiration leading to asphyxia, may be from 
exhaustion, or possibly from contact of some of the draught 
with the sensitive membrane of the larynx, leading to spas¬ 
modic closure of the opening. Another veterinary surgeon 
