RETROSPECTS OF VETERINARY PRACTICE. 91 
few breaks-down at the commencement of a race, except 
under extraordinary circumstances. When all the muscles 
are in full play, as they are found to be in a strong gallop, 
and an animal excited, amongst others, it is when these 
lesions take place, and especially so when the horse is almost 
used up at nearing the goal, and his jockey has left go Ms 
head and sat down to flog. This is the time the mischief is 
done, for it is at this juncture the horse is all abroad. I 
believe there are more races lost and more horses injured by 
this sitting-down system than by any other. If the horse, 
instead of having his head to himself, were to be held to¬ 
gether, and a stimulus applied with the heel or even a shout, in 
many instances success instead of failure would be the 
result. I have witnessed many races where these reflections 
have been forced upon me; besides, the animal being held 
together, the jockey, watching the movements of his horse, 
would be less likely to take him upon uneven ground or 
give the chance of a break-down, as is too often done. It 
is when the limb is extended too far beyond its powers of 
recovery, that break-down takes place, and, as a general rule, 
under no other circumstances. To be plainer, I would state 
that the extensor muscles have been exerted beyond the 
power of the flexors, so that the latter have not sufficient 
strength left to overcome the former; a dwelling upon the 
soft parts below the knee is effected, and a giving way of 
those soft parts the consequence. 
(To be continued .) 
RETROSPECTS OF VETERINARY PRACTICE. 
By Mentor.” 
To me it is always an incalculable source of delight to turn 
over the pages of the Veterinarian contemporaneously with 
those of my note-book, or otherwise to settle quietly down 
by the stillness of my own fireside, bent upon an extended 
overhaul of past volumes. It is thus that I have been im¬ 
pressed with the rapid strides the profession is making in its 
mode of viewing and dealing with disease. It is thus, also, 
we are taught to “ go forward,” under a deep sense of “ self¬ 
insufficiency ” and dependence upon the efforts of our 
brethren for their records, which, if we are candid to confess 
it, occasionally point out a little want here or there on our 
part. The feeling of healthy dissatisfaction with one’s self 
