5G4 
SOUNDNESS AND UNSOUNDNESS OF HORSES. 
exist, we should not be so often pained by hearing and read¬ 
ing those daily reports of the large amount of hard swearing 
in our courts of justice which characterise horse causes. 
And I cannot help thinking that if veterinary surgeons 
would take the law as now defined for the foundation where¬ 
upon to raise their structure, instead of many of their own 
fancies as to what is law, it would then be a simple ques¬ 
tion for them to answer, as to whether or not any of the 
numerous diseases named did exist at the time of their ex¬ 
aminations or not. Indeed, this I presume to be the strict 
duty of the veterinary surgeon; and for a catalogue of these 
I with pleasure refer him to that concise and excellent work, 
f Olliphont on the Soundness and Unsoundness of Horses. 5 
Let the veterinary surgeon when consulted, go to this with 
an unbiassed mind and a firm resolve to look at the case 
calmly and dispassionately, and with a determination under 
no circumstances whatever to swerve from that course which 
his professional knowledge, honestly and without favour, so 
loudly calls upon him to pursue ; never caring by whom em¬ 
ployed, or by whom opposed, or whether or not the opinion 
he may give “ suits 55 his employer or meets his anxious 
desires. Let him follow this course in all cases, and he will, 
I think, find his duty respecting an examination as to sound¬ 
ness free from all difficulties, and plainly defined. 
I cannot conceive veterinary pathology and anatomy to be 
really in such a state of darkness as not to render easy to all 
her advocates the detection of any disease acknowledged 
bv the law as constituting unsoundness; but I can conceive, 
and have often witnessed, what flagrant errors, stretches of 
the imagination, and a want of strict adherence to common 
sense and scientific knowledge, urged on by prejudice, will and 
invariably do lead to; together with the latitude given to 
persons who are inclined to accept the opportunity of setting 
forth their peculiar notions as to \X\e probability of an animal 
some time or other taking on a certain disease whereby he may 
become unsound. This has ever surrounded the question 
with thick clouds of mystery, and is called “predisposition/ 5 
a word which unhappily by its misapplication, “ even as good 
remedies ,’ 5 has become a poison, and like the explain all “ in¬ 
flammation, 55 has become a mere peg whereupon to hang the 
cap of ignorance. Again, you will hear of professional men 
not only disagreeing about the existence or otherwise of dis¬ 
ease, but also as to what diseases by their appearance render 
an animal unsound. But, in this particular, the veterinary 
surgeon is not the only one who creates a difficulty. Are 
not the most eminent judges of our land at variance ? and 
