VETERINARY JURISPRUDENCE. 593 
which plaintiff bad sent to Mr. Whiteman, M.L.A., to be cured 
of a wound in the leg. 
Mr. G. P. Smith for plaintiff; Mr. W. Y. Smith for 
defendant. 
Thomas Serrell, the plaintiff, a medical practitioner, of Fitzroy, 
said that in the end of January last he had a valuable horse turned 
out in a paddock at Whittlesea. On the 13th February the 
horse, which was a gelding, was brought to town and taken to 
Mr. Whiteman's veterinary infirmary, in M ( Killop Street, for 
treatment. On the 16th February he received a letter from Mr. 
Mitchell, stating that the horse had previously received a fracture 
of the radius without displacement, and on that morning, while 
the horse was being dressed, displacement occurred. He did not 
agree with what Mr. Mitchell stated, and sent Mr. Miscamble, 
veterinary surgeon, to examine the case. In two or three days 
after the horse was dead he met Mr. Mitchell, who said he was 
sorry for the loss of the horse. Witness told him that he ought 
not to have thrown the horse, to which he made no reply. He 
also told Mr. Mitchell that he had sent his man for the bones of 
the horse, and they were refused to the man, to which Mr. 
Mitchell replied that they were his property, and he would not 
give them up, as they might be required in a court of law. He 
(witness) considered it was not proper treatment to throw the 
horse down, and in this case Mr. Mitchell sent him word that the 
bone was not broken, but he thought matter had accumulated in 
the leg. Could not say whether applying a seton would be proper 
treatment if there had been accumulated matter in the leg. 
Thought the defendant ought to have known before he threw the 
horse whether the bone was broken or not. The bone which was 
broken was the radius or leg bone below the shoulder. (The 
broken bone of the dead horse, and also a broken one of a healthy 
horse, were produced and shown to the witness.) There was a 
slight difference in the fractures of the bones produced. He ad¬ 
mitted there might have been a partial fracture of the bone of his 
horse before it went into the defendant's hands, but by throwing 
the fracture became a complete one. Hid not hold that there 
could not be spontaneous fracture of the bone, as he had heard 
of such fractures. The horse was only brought to town because 
there was a swelling on the leg. No horse could have walked 
the distance from Whittlesea with a complete fracture of the leg. 
The horse had been attended to at Whittlesea by his son and his 
son’s manager, who fomented the wound. A sound bone of a 
horse might become as diseased as was the bone shown out of his 
horse in ten days, but it would not become so diseased in a month 
in a human creature. He valued the horse at <£30. Gave £18 
for it when he bought it. 
