468 
TWENTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING 
prove fatal. Here is a patient which, at the time of examination, had hut a 
slight discharge from one nostril, not very abundant; muco-purulent; inoffensive. 
We consider it a simple case of catarrh, and before many days have passed it 
proves to be merely the first indication of a diseased condition of a tooth, which 
may prove troublesome and refractory to treatment, and, perhaps, result finally in 
death. Again, assume an animal free from any blemish or unsound indication 
other than a slight increase of temperature, and perhaps, a slight cough. He is 
bought, though sickly, and only a few days later dies from an attack of lung dis¬ 
ease of an acute character, perhaps grafted on an organ already affected with 
chronic disease. Next in the category may come an animal in apparently per¬ 
fect health, but which dies a few days after with colicky pains, due to calcareous 
formations in the intestines or a vesical calculus. 
Similar cases almost without number might, if necessary, be cited in illus¬ 
tration of the point we are discussing. Are we to reject all these because, as 
vaguely and indefinitely expressed, they are “sick?” Yes—but what then of 
those with (perhaps latent) diseases which we have not been able to detect, or 
whose termination we have failed to foresee. If such as these are to be rejected 
for mere negative reasons and on hypothetical grounds, are we, again, doing 
justice to our calling, to our obligations, and to all the three parties concerned? 
If not, I fear that the general investigations which constitute our so-called “ex¬ 
aminations” are mere farcical and barren pretexts, and that our certificates are 
worth less than the paper on which they are written, and can furnish no pro¬ 
tection to the buyer, but, indeed, are rather detrimental to the honest dealer and 
unjust towards the good qualities of an animal which, though unsound, we know 
in many instances might prove to be a very useful servant, and fully compen¬ 
sate his purchaser, and perhaps might be turned against us in a court of justice. 
If I am right, gentlemen, in suggesting such an interpretation of our posi¬ 
tion, and such a view of the performance .of an examiner’s duty according to the 
English law of warranty, as well as the, at least possible, ill-effects of its applica¬ 
tion, it seems to me that the moment may not have been badly selected to con¬ 
sult with this assembly of veterinarians on the subject, and to ask for their 
opinion and their suggestions in respect to a remedy for the evils to which I have 
referred. 
This is no new subject with me. Years have passed since its first presenta¬ 
tion by myself in Boston, before this same Association. But we were young then 
—our membership was small—and to-day, when we have strengthened our stand¬ 
ing by the accession of so many worthy and accomplished associates, I hope the 
matter will receive at your hands the attention and consideration to which it is so 
well entitled. And now, admitting the inefficiency of the old law, with its errors, 
the problem presents itself in two forms: First, what better methods can be de¬ 
vised; and secondly, if proposed, can they be made practicable and available, and 
if so, by what means ? 
Let us consider the first of these points, and to answer this it will be necessary 
to call your attention to foreign legislation on the subject, and to refer you to the 
laws which exist in various European States. Let us for, instance, consider the 
French law which, with some modification, however, we find re-enforced in othe r 
nations, including Belgium, Switzerland, and I believe, Italy, and this may be 
