TETANUS ARISING FROM CASTRATION. 669 
a week previous to purchase. The dealer agreed to “ make him 
good, should any thing occur resulting from the operation, for a 
fortnight from the time of purchase.” 
Now, I contend that, in law and equity, he, the dealer, was 
bound to make good the horse to the purchaser; but the dealer 
thought it was worth a scuffle, though honour and breach of con¬ 
tract were sacrificed in its accomplishment. 
First, he stuck to it, that the “ lock jaw” did not arise from the 
operation. Secondly, that the horse was greatly injured by the 
use of chloroform. And, lastly, that, had he not been destroyed, 
there was a good chance of recovery. Yet, after all these pretexts 
to evade a just debt, he voluntarily agrees to refund half the money. 
This the purchaser consents to take, rather than trust to “the glo¬ 
rious uncertainty of the law.” 
I regret that I was thus prevented from proving publicly what 
I have asserted, viz. that it was a case of traumatic tetanus. I 
think no greater proof was required to shew that the purchaser 
was justly entitled to what he claimed, and that the seller knew it, 
than the voluntary payment of half the money. If half was due, 
why, surely, the whole was. And I feel most firmly assured that, 
had the case gone to trial, the verdict would have been for the 
plaintiff. 
Now, a slight analysis of each objection will shew how badly 
they are able to bear the test of examination. 
First, That the tetanus did not arise from the operation. Al¬ 
most every case of tetanus I can find recorded is traumatic in its 
origin; i e. arising from mechanical injury. It does not appear 
to be of the slightest consequence in respect to the extent of a 
wound; whether it be a pricked foot, a docked tail, or a spermatic 
cord from which a testicle has been removed : tetanus has followed 
all these. It has resulted from a cut beneath the eyes with a whip, 
and it has even been occasioned by a saddle-gall. Indeed, there 
seems to be hardly a mechanical injury of any sort from which te¬ 
tanus may not be anticipated. If a horse is brought to an infirmary 
with tetanus, or if called to see a case, the first inquiry and ex¬ 
amination is for a wound; and it rarely happens that some injury 
or abrasion is not discovered. 
Now, can there be, I ask, on the mind of the most prejudiced, a 
doubt that the wounds resulting from castration were the cause of 
tetanus 1 The fact of both cords being in such an unhealthy state 
makes the case ten times more free from doubt. What could it 
arise from 1 All the viscera were healthy. The lungs certainly 
were terribly congested; but that was a consequence; there was 
no previous illness, no change of diet, no exposure to wet or cold; 
VOL. XXII. 4 u 
