EDITORIAL. 101 
the public, or which so thoroughly tests the resources of the 
practitioner as his implication in a horse-trade. The satisfactory 
examination of an animal for soundness at the time of purchase 
involves a question of trust which every veterinarian must fully 
appreciate, and in which he is bound to exercise the most scrupu¬ 
lous care, and every respectable practitioner will do his utmost to 
insure justice to the parties trusting his judgment. The duty, 
however, is sometimes a very difficult one, and in many instances 
involves special conditions, which renders the giving of an opinion 
a very onerous and perplexing task, and no amount of caution, 
and no degree of circumspection and discrimination will be wasted 
in the study, by the veterinarian, of all the elements of the case 
before him. The fee which is received for the work done and 
the responsibility attached to it, is not, however, usually propor¬ 
tionate to the expectations entertained by the buyer. Again, 
there are in many cases so many difficulties involved in the 
solution of the general question as to what really constitutes 
soundness, that there is really always more or less room for the 
intrusion of legal quibbles and quiddities. A horse-trade is 
notoriously and proverbially, amongst all the transactions in which 
men are accustomed to engage, that which most severely tries the 
conscientious aptitude of a man in connection with the average of 
men’s general intelligence. 
We do not wish to speak in extenuation of anything like a 
manifest evidence of ignorance or of dishonestv. We know too 
well that there are daily examples of such occurrences. What we 
especially desire to say in the matter is, to advise buyers to con¬ 
fide their interests to none but qualified and reputable practition¬ 
ers, and to trust to their ability and their methods of examination, 
independently of any suggestion or objection that may be made 
by the interested dealer, whoever he may be. Let the veterina¬ 
rian perform his duty in the very strictest sense of the word; let 
him examine the animal in every possible condition, placing him 
in such circumstances as shall not only exhibit his alleged present 
soundness, but shall betray his unsound condition, if it exists; 
let him test the animal, as nearly as he can, as the examining 
physician of a life insurance company tests a candidate for a life 
