VETERINARY JURISPRUDENCE. 
551 
BICESTER COUNTY COURT. 
Before John Herbert Koe, Esq. 
CHRONIC DISEASE OF THE MESENTERY. 
Parrott v . Elliott. 
This action was brought to recover £27, the price paid for a brown 
mare, purchased of defendant (who gave a written warranty). The 
mare had died a few months after the purchase, and plaintiff alleged 
that unsoundness must have existed at the time of purchase. Mr. 
Osmond appeared for the plaintiff and Mr. Griffiths for the defendant. 
Edwin Parrott , of Piddington, deposed that he purchased the mare 
of Mr. Elliott on the 8th of October last, and had a written warranty 
with her. The warranty was produced and read. It li warranted the 
mare sound and a good worker.’* After he got the mare home, she did 
not turn out well; could not do a day’s work in a proper manner, and 
was very weak. She had the colic a fortnight after he bought her ; she 
appeared to get better, but the symptoms returned again, and seemed 
to come periodically. The mare would not eat her food properly, held 
her head down and often staggered about. 
This evidence was corroborated by John Allen, the carter on the 
farm, who further stated that the mare was generally bad after drinking, 
and could scarcely get back to the stable. 
Edward Parrott, brother to plaintiff, also deposed to the illness and 
weakness of the animal. The mare eventually died on the 1st of 
February. His brother was ill at the time and was not able to leave his 
room, and therefore he attended at the farm, and assisted in opening 
the mare. There was a large quantity of matter in the bowels, which he 
thought must have proceeded from a tumour. 
George Armatage, of Bicester, veterinary surgeon, said that he was 
called in to attend the mare on the 22d of December. The symptoms 
appeared to be those of colic, or gripes, but from the protracted pain 
the animal seemed to endure, and the great weakness and other symptoms 
attending it,he thought there must be something beyond such an ordinary 
cause of suffering. The mare was, however, treated for colic, and appeared 
to get better. He did not see the mare again. A portion of the intestines 
were afterwards submitted to him for examination. Fie found the mesen¬ 
tery very much thickened, and that a large sac had formed in it, which he 
had no doubt contained the matter referred to by one of the witnesses. 
He should call it “ tuberculous disease of the mesentery,” and it was 
quite sufficient to have caused death. It was a disease of very tardy 
growth, and had probably been coming on for many months. 
William Cosins, farrier, of Brill, and Stephen Cripps, carpenter, were 
called, and deposed to the mare having similar fits of colic while in 
possession of the defendant and previous to the sale to the plaintiff. 
Joseph Elliott , the defendant, stated that the mare was sound and a 
good worker when he sold her. He admitted that the mare had the 
colic in May last. He sent her on that account to Mr. Lepper’s 
Infirmary, at Aylesbury. She was there about a week, and afterwards 
returned quite recovered, and went on improving in every respect till 
the day he sold her. 
Henri/ Lepper , of Aylesbury, veterinary surgeon, said that the mare 
came to his establishment. He considered it merely a case of ordinary 
colic, as she recovered under the usual treatment. He believed Mr. 
Armatage’s statement to be perfectly correct, but still the organic 
