ALSIKE CLOVER. 
729 
individuals. A gelding also is called a horse. Were I to sit 
on a jury to decide such a question, I should most certainly 
be of opinion that the horse was sound. 
The argument in favour of rejecting a llig as unsound 
cannot hold good; if the horse, as the purchaser has stated, is 
of much less service than ^^if otherwise,^’ it would come under 
the denomination of vice.'’^ It has nothing whatever to do 
with the soundness of any animal; therefore the horse must 
be considered sound. The form of warranty being defective, 
the purchaser has no remedy. However, as I have before 
^ stated, it is a matter which will, as in most horse cases, give 
rise to different opinions. 
ON THE ALSIKE CLOVER. 
By Alfred J. Shorten, M.R.C.V.S., Nevvcastle-on-Tyne. 
Mr. Watson, of Rugby, having asked for some further 
information respecting the action of Alsike clover upon 
horses, and Mentor having suggested in* his letter that 
veterinary surgeons, should ^Horite for as well as read the 
Veterinarian, I have therefore — albeit but an indifferent 
scribe—ventured to send you the following account of some 
cases that occurred in my practice some two or three years 
ago, when residing in Suffolk. A chesnut gelding, of a light 
colour, aged, and of the cart breed, was sent to iny place one 
evening suffering from considerable tumefaction of the lips 
and nostrils, which quite incapacitated him from feeding. 
On examining him, I found the cuticle of the swollen parts 
to be peeling off in large flakes, causing desquamation of 
almost the entire surface of the buccal membrane, as far as I 
had the opportunity of seeing- it; there was much fever pre¬ 
sent, pulse about 60; the Schneiderian and conjunctival 
membranes were intensely yellow, and a slight swelling with 
great lameness of the off hind leg, which was a white one, 
was evinced, the limbs being excessively painful and tender 
when pressed. 
I at the time considered it a case of derangement of the 
liver and digestive organs, and treated it accordingly. 
The following morning, on visiting my patient, I found 
him generally better; but the lameness had increased so 
much that the horse could scarcely move; and when made 
to do so, he lifted the limb with a spasmodic jerk, and kept it 
suspended for som.e seconds before venturing to put it to 
XXXVI. 48 
