190 VETERINARY JURISPRUDENCE. 
to extensive ossification, were covered by the coronary ligament 
and the horny hoof; not that they did not 'posteriorly rise 
above the level of the crust; and that Mr. M. knows perfectly 
well himself, although he may take an advantage of a mistake 
of a reporter in reporting technical phrases , and by so doing 
endeavour to cover his own blunders. 
I shall not now enter into any discussion of the subject, as, 
if we continue to do so for twelve months, we cannot make the 
horse unsound , as a hundred witnesses of all ranks in society 
living in the neighbourhood can prove to the contrary ; and if 
the plaintiff himself was not aware of the same, why did he not 
apply for a new trial, when he might have had what veterinary 
evidence he pleased, if he did not know the utter uselessness 
of so doing ; and I will further inform your readers, that Mr. 
M., by keeping the question before the public, only serves still 
further to make them talk of the blunders committed, and to 
make the profession a byword and contempt among the public, 
to think that there are men in it who cannot discover whether 
a horse is lame from a temporary cause , or whether he is 
suffering from a permanent lameness. As was most acutely 
remarked by the learned judge at the trial, it was not for the 
defendant or his witnesses to prove how he became lame after 
he came into the plaintiff’s possession, although I should 
imagine any veterinary surgeon who heard the case at the trial 
must be very dull of comprehension not at once to be able to 
judge the cause. 
I am, Sir, 
Yours truly, 
John Dawtrey, M.R.C.V.S. 
Petworth, March 13, 1852. 
P.S.—I have sent you the Brighton Gazette , which contains 
a true account of the trial, wherein your readers will perceive 
that such words as “ the cartilages do not rise above the level of 
the crust” never came from my lips. I have also sent you mv 
reply to Mr. M.* from the same paper of the following week 
wherein Mr. M.’s letter appeared, by which you and the pro¬ 
fession will be better able to judge between us. I have 
nothing further to add to that letter than to state that I was in 
the neighbourhood of Salvington last week, and found the 
animal had been in heavy and constant work ever since the 
trial, and had never shewn the least symptom of lameness; and 
I now state, and a hundred witnesses of all grades in society 
will prove it, that he is as sound as any horse in the country. 
The correspondence that has passed concerning the animal has 
made him quite a subject of show for gentlemen for miles round. 
* This has not come to hand.—E d. Vet. 
