456 
VETERINARY JUR1SPRUDENCE. 
Howden is about 210 miles from Bristol; never said he heard 
the horse cough as he was led from the terminus to the stables. 
A letter addressed to the plaintiff was then put into witness’s 
hands, which he admitted to be in his handwriting. The following 
is an extract:— 
11 Bristol, 20th October , 1848. 
“ Sir,—I regret to inform you the bay gelding I bought of you at Howden 
died yesterday, and from the certificate inclosed it is very evident he was 
unsound previous to my purchase; he coughed when my man was bringing 
him from the terminus to my stables, and I observed on the following day 
(which escaped me before) that his throat had been blistered.” 
The horse coughed first at Gloucester; it is so usual to hear a 
horse cough after travelling that it made no impression on him; 
observed the blister on the following day; struck the horse on the 
flank at Howden fair; roaring comes from the throat; should not 
have detected the disease by striking the horse on the flank; he 
was a good coated horse; began to be alarmed about the horse in 
two or three days after his arrival; had no notion that the lungs 
were wrong until two or three days before his death; his coat 
stared; I thought his illness was in the throat; knew two days 
before his death he must have chronic disease of the lungs; treated 
him accordingly, and gave him the usual medicines. 
Re-examined by Mr. Sergeant Wilkins.—There were no symp¬ 
toms of acute inflammation. 
Mr. John Kent examined.—Is a veterinary surgeon at Bristol; 
made a 'post-mortem examination of the bay gelding on the 2d of 
October last; found the liver hardened and of rather a pale colour; 
it weighed 38lbs; the weight of a healthy liver would be about 
15lbs; it was a disease of itself; disease in the liver must have 
been in existence for twelve months, probably much longer; the 
horse was fat enough; the right lung was hepatised with vomicae, 
vessels that have been filled with cheesy or curdy matter ; some of 
the tubercles were in clusters—others were spread thinner over 
the surface with cheesy matter; one-third part of the lungs was so 
affected; the lower part, next the breast bone; the left lung was 
hepatised, or liver-like, to a much smaller degree, with a few 
scattered tubercles; the cause of the disease must have been a 
slight inflammation in the first place, occasioned either by influenza, 
strangles, or a common cold ; from that inflammation a portion of 
the lungs became hepatised; inflammation then ceased; it always 
does in such cases; on a fresh attack of inflammation the hepatis- 
ation would increase ; there might be then a considerable cessation 
of inflammation for a long time; on taking a fresh cold the hepa- 
tisation would still increase, tubercles would then be formed in the 
hardened substance; inflammation might then disappear, and the 
animal appear well for years; the lungs of the bay gelding had, 
