“ justices’ justice.” 
467 
that the ancestors of these horses were originally domesti¬ 
cated in their native country, between the Himalaya and the 
Altai mountains, by the primitive Aryans before their dis¬ 
persion, and anterior to the Vedic age. Does this race of 
thirty-four-ribbed horses still exist? or has crossing and inter¬ 
crossing with other races of different origin effaced this pecu¬ 
liarity ? The solution of these questions would prove of the 
highest interest to the zoologist, comparative anatomist, and 
others ; though it need not be attempted in India, but to the 
north of the Himalayas, the birthplace of our civilisation. 
It is to be presumed that the thirty-four ribs would be 
accompanied by a corresponding number of dorsal vertebrae 
—seventeen, or one less than we now find, and consequently 
that the number of lumbar would be six at least; for if the 
Aryan horses were like the typical African horses in possess¬ 
ing only five lumbar vertebrae, the extraordinary deficiency of 
two pieces in the dorso-lumbar stalk would surely prove a 
serious deformity, unless accompanied by corresponding 
anomalies in the limbs. 
As the matter now stands, it would appear that Central 
Asia was the zoological centre for a breed of horses possess¬ 
ing only thirty-four ribs, and Africa was another centre for 
an equine race furnished with five instead of six lumbar 
vertebrae; while in other regions the normal number of ribs 
observed has been thirty-six, with six lumbar vertebrae. 
“ JUSTICES’ JUSTICE/’ 
By Thomas Walley, Professor at the Edinburgh 
Veterinary College. 
These two words, which of late have become very 
common in the mouths of Englishmen, have not been shorn 
of any of their sarcasm by the decision of the Leeds magis¬ 
trates in the prosecution (as reported in your last number) 
for “ over-stocking” cows’ udders. 
If ever professional evidence was set aside in favour of 
old-established custom, it was in this case. The practice of 
“hefting” in Scotland—to which I called the attention of the 
Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in the 
Animal World for May—is so intimately connected with 
that of “over-stocking,’’that I consider it the duty of veterinary 
surgeons (if they would deserve the title of being humane) 
to do all in their power to put down these disgraceful prac- 
