834 
A. J. BURKHOLDER. 
and a teacher in the schools of comparative medicine for over 
twenty years. Added to these professionals, men of sound busi¬ 
ness capabilities are indispensable in the formation of the most 
serviceable boards of health. 
(To be continued .) 
THE EXAMINATION OF HORSES FOR SOUNDNESS. 
By A. J. Burkholder, D.V.S., Staunton, Va. 
A Paper read before the Virginia State Veterinary Medical Association, at Staunton,. 
Jan. 5, 1897. 
The examination of horses as to soundness is a function in 
which every practitioner shares to a greater or lesser extent. 
Like many other callings, it is one demanding for its efficient 
performance a large and varied experience of horses in general, 
as well as a full share of that higher technical training which 
scholastic study affords. The responsibility which attaches to 
this department of our work is rapidly becoming more and more 
recognized and insisted upon by those in whose interests we 
act. The marked and rapid increase in the quality of our 
horse stock arising out of improved methods of breeding, and a 
more painstaking system of rearing, has very naturally led to an 
increase in their value. With an increase in value there has 
very naturally arisen a desire on the part of the purchaser to 
guard against imposition and the many possible disappoint¬ 
ments and losses which attach to the purchase of horses. It is 
mainly on this account that the services of the qualified veteri¬ 
narian are now so much more in request than they were for¬ 
merly, but there is also a decided tendency on the part of deal¬ 
ers to evade the responsibilities of “ warranty,” and to throw 
the entire responsibility upon the surgeon. This should be 
taken as a high compliment to the veterinary profession that 
purchasers so readily accept this new state of things. By so do¬ 
ing they have declared confidence in the integrity and skill of 
our craft, and it is a matter of congratulation that whereas our 
law courts were formerly besieged by litigants seeking redress 
