TJ. S. VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 
467 
cicatrices of keratoma, and whose coarse hocks were scarred with the cicatrices 
of actual line and point cauterization? 
Oliphant tells us that “ahorse free from hereditary disease, being in the 
possession of his natural and constitutional health, and having as much bodily per¬ 
fection as is consistent with his natural formation, can be certified as being 
sound.” 
No doubt this is a much better definition than that of Percivall, who says 
that “any horse that is lame or has that about him which is likely, on work, to 
render him lame is unsound,” a definition which largely covers the subject of 
soundness so far as the function of locomotion is concerned. 
But aside from all this, with us, the question must necessarily remain the 
same. Courts of law will differ in their opinions, and judges will express the 
varying ideas of various nations on the subject, and the announced results of ex¬ 
perienced veterinarians will be too often treated with contempt, or ridiculed on 
account of difference of opinion, and their various interpretations of lesions and 
symptoms; and to use the word of a learned judge in a case recently decided : 
“It is more and more wonderful to know how anyone could pretend to know 
what was soundness and what was not soundness.” * 
In the presence of such facts, gentlemen, facts with which I think you are 
all familiar, and in the light of such an experience as is common with us all, and 
of occurrences which I have witnessed too often in a long and extensive practice 
of this specialty, a doubt has often arisen in my mind whether we are doing right 
in conducting our examination as we do, and whether in granting our certificates 
as most of us do, we are dealing justly with all parties concerned, with our em¬ 
ployer, with the dealer, and with the horse which has been brought before us. 
Are we dealing in a strictly legal sense with the inquiries made of us, and justi¬ 
fying fully the confidence lodged in our integrity and intelligence ? 
What, indeed, is asked of us by the gentleman who wishes to become the 
purchaser of an animal which after satisfactory trial he has selected as one fit to 
do his work and minister to his pleasure ? The question is a simple one : “Is 
he sound ? ” and the answer ought to be equally simple. But how many horses 
can fulfill the conditions of an unqualified answer, even if literal perfection is not 
demanded? We may pass a horse because nothing but a small splint is visible, 
and yet in a few days he may become lame with it. 
We may reject the next case because of a small exostosis on one hock, or a 
small spavin, and yet he may be purchased and may turn out a good and ser¬ 
viceable animal. Can we always distinguish, or are we to reject every animal 
which exhibits one or any of the ailments that we find in the true sense of the 
word to constitute unsoundness. To use the words of Dr. Wm. Hunting, the 
editor of the Veterinary Recoi'd, “ the want of a good definition renders the seller 
of a horse who gives a warranty, or the veterinarian who gives a certificate, 
liable to actions at law by the buyer whenever his new purchase goes wrong.” 
And if this should be a correct view, it is easy to see in what a peculiar position 
we may find ourselves in some easily supposable cases. Let us suppose some 
condition in which an animal may be affected with some form of acute ailment, 
which has assumed a serious character and may become incurable or possibly 
* Veterinary Record (June 12,1890). 
