596 
VETERINARY JURISPRUDENCE. 
William Thomson , E.R.C.S.E., to give evidence respecting the 
diseased bone. The witness said the bone was considerably 
diseased. A bone like that would be much more likely to 
fracture than a healthy one would; sudden tripping over one 
of the Melbourne gutters would have been sufficient to frac¬ 
ture it; it would be liable to snap from sudden muscular con¬ 
traction. The fracture of a healthy bone would have been 
more diagonal and splintered than the fracture in that bone was, 
it being nearly straight across the leg, and not lengthwise. 
In the original injury to the horse, some of the shell of the 
bone had been driven to the inside of the bone, which caused 
accumulation of matter, kept up constant irritation, and rendered 
the cure of the leg impossible, unless the parts driven in were 
removed. As long as the foreign body remained driven in the 
bone, and caused accumulation of matter, it was impossible to 
effect a cure. 
Mr. Graham Mitchell, veterinary surgeon, said he had charge 
of the veterinary business at Whiteman's infirmary, as personal 
employe of Mr. Whiteman. On the 13th February, Mr.. Serrell, 
jun., took the horse to the infirmary, and witness examined it. 
He found a swelling, extending nearly from the elbow to the 
knee of the near foreleg. A little below the elbow, on the outer 
part of the leg, there was a scar healed up. Examined the leg 
to find foreign matter, abscess, or disease of the bone. Young 
Serrell said it was his opinion that the injury was done by a 
stake. Witness told him there was deep -seated irritation, caused 
by a foreign body or abscess or disease of the bone, and he would 
probably require to throw the horse to find out what was the 
matter. Mr. Serrell said, “ All right; I will leave the horse in 
your hands.” There was a diffused swelling, and he was inclined 
to think that the horse had been staked. He thought the best 
plan would be to see if there was retention of matter, which he 
had failed to find near the surface; and he inserted a seton for 
that purpose. To do so he secured the horse by a twitch, and 
he had very great difficulty in performing the operation. On the 
14th Eebruary he had the leg continuously fomented with warm 
water and the seton dressed. On the 15th Eebruary there was 
considerable discharge of pus from the upper portion of the 
seton. The enlargement of the leg had increased, and the horse 
appeared to be much lamer than it was on the 13th. On the 
morning of the 16th he found the horse much worse, and bend¬ 
ing the near fore leg. It winced on the slightest touch. Being 
convinced that there was deep-seated irritation, he got four of 
Mr. Whiteman's men to hold the twitch, and tried to probe the 
animal in the course of the seton, to see if there were any signs 
of connection with an abscess, but whenever he attempted to 
