VETERINARY JURISPRUDENCE IN SCOTLAND. 
486 
give him notice that the body 
was to be dissected and exa¬ 
mined, and, at all events, to give 
him an opportunity of seeing the 
heart and abscess,” &c. 
4. “ It was impossible for the 
defender to call witnesses as to 
the exact state and character of 
the disease, when neither he nor 
any one for him ever saw the 
diseased parts, and when he was 
never told there was anything to 
be seen,” &c. 
Answer by Defender. 
2. “Admits that, on or about 
the eleventh or twelfth of April, 
1849, the defender received in¬ 
timation to the effect here men¬ 
tioned,” &c. 
When such is the way a judge can construe matters of fact, 
how* are we to expect him to treat points of law ? That the 
pursuer intimated to the defender the cow’s death, its cause, 
and his consequent intentions, immediately on discovering 
the existence of old-standing disease, and also laid aside the 
whole of the diseased part for proper inspection, no one ever 
thought of doubting, till the sheriff imagined the reverse, as 
a plea to found his decision on. Even the defender himself, 
as may be seen by the above extract from his answers, allows 
that he received due intimation, otherwise the pursuer could 
have easily proved the fact by independent testimony". If we 
strip the Sheriff’s note of the force which it derives from this 
assumed informality of Smith's proceedings, the only other 
point worth noticing (except what belongs to the veterinary 
part of the evidence) is the attempt to throw doubt on the 
fact, that the diseased parts, examined by the veterinary sur¬ 
geons, belonged to the cow bought from the defender, and 
all along referred to. The Sheriff says, ee they r saw what they 
were told was,” &c., (vide Sheriff’s note,) as if upon this 
simple telling, the force of their evidence in any way de¬ 
pended. But, by referring to the abstract of the evidence 
which we have given, the most complete identity will be found 
established between the parts examined by r the veterinary 
surgeons and the parts taken out of the cow, not as the 
Sheriff says, “ by the pursuer himself, and alone,” but in the 
presence, and with the aid of three other individuals, pro¬ 
fessionally accustomed to sights of the kind, and to all of 
whom the immense mass of diseased substance, adhering to 
the heart, was at once obvious on the chest being opened. 
We are not skilled in points of law; but, if memory does not 
deceive us, we have heard it stated, upon authority", to the 
effect, that everything was open to doubt in regard to any" 
