VETERINARY JURISPRUDENCE. 301 
for sale, and it is the practice to examine the feet most particularly. 
Ossification cannot exist without being felt—it may not be visible. 
Mr. Robert Coleman, father of the defendant, said he was a veterinary 
surgeon at Tilshead. He was brought up to the profession from child¬ 
hood. He knew this mare, and rode her from April to October last. 
He never saw anything wrong in her action. He never examined her 
to see if she had side-bone—it could not, however, have existed without 
his knowing it. He was admitted to have as quick an eye as anybody. 
The mare’s feet were not contracted. He saw that she had side-bone 
after the sale at the repository. He had seen no symptoms of navicular 
lameness—he was certain the mare was not suffering from navicular 
disease when she was sent to Salisbury. 
Cross-examined—The mare was not lame to-day. Navicular disease 
could not exist without lameness. 
Mr. Swayne —Then you think navicular disease is an insertion of 
lameness into the foot ? 
Witness—Yes, when it comes there (laughter). He had been in prac¬ 
tice more than forty years, but never heard of navicular disease before 
he commenced practice. Ossified cartilage might, in the first place, 
exist without being felt. He had known side-bone produced in three 
weeks or a month after injury. 
Edwin Fain, smith, of Tilshead, shod the mare until she was sent to 
Salisbury. She was not lame. Her feet were both the same size. 
Thomas Collins , smith, of Salisbury, many years assistant to the late 
Mr. Snow, shod the mare once before she went to Mr. Hussey’s. He 
did not see any side-bone. He had seen so many cases of side-bone 
that he thought he must have discovered it if it had existed. There 
was no contraction of the mare’s feet. 
Mr. Richard Pile, farmer, of Woodford, said he had a ewe break her 
leg a short time since. He set it, and the bones were sufficiently 
united for her to walk in a fortnight. 
Mr. George South —I am a veterinary surgeon, living at 40, New Bond 
Street, London. I am a member of the Royal College of Veterinary 
Surgeons. I have four large establishments, and a very extensive prac¬ 
tice. On the 21 st of January I was sent for to examine a bay mare for 
Mr. Coleman. I found an enlargement on the outside of the off fore 
foot, but not a very large one. It was an enlargement of the lateral 
cartilage, commonly called ossification. About three parts of the car¬ 
tilage were ossified; the other portion still yielded to pressure. In my 
judgment it had been forming about a month or six weeks. I have 
seen hundreds of cases of ossified cartilage. In some cases ossification 
is more rapid than in others. We form an opinion from the quantity 
of bony matter thrown out. I have seen the mare again this day. The 
cartilage is not yet wholly ossified, but is rather more rigid than at the 
time of my first examination. I have heard the evidence as to the 
lameness of the 3d of December, and I should say that the injury which 
caused the enlargement was certainly not of an earlier date. I have 
examined the mare’s feet. Neither of them is contracted that I can 
detect. I measured them to-day, and could not detect the slightest 
difference. I have no hesitation in saying that she has not a contracted 
foot. I ran her out, and she went very soundly. I could not detect the 
slightest trace of navicular disease. 1 have not the slightest hesitation 
in pronouncing her free from navicular disease. She appears perfectly 
sound, except the side-bone. Ossification in an incipient state is readily 
detected by manipulation, and not by the eye. 
Cross-examined—She has not two contracted feet. I did not measure 
