290 
DR. BUSTEED ON STRINGHALT. 
of poisonous properties, had, by remaining in the stomach 
of the animal for several months, been slowly converted, in 
all probability, into the poisonous compounds of carbonate 
and acetate of that metal, and these by a long-continued ab¬ 
sorption and accumulation in the system had so far produced 
permanent derangement of the digestive functions as to give 
rise to the symptoms exhibited in the animal, eventually 
terminating in its death. If analysis could have been 
made of the liver, spleen, and other organs of the body, I 
have no doubt lead in considerable quantities w T ould have been 
found. Another interesting question in the case presents itself, 
namely, as to whether the large quantities of lead scattered 
amongst the herbage may not only be gathered up by animals 
in its metallic state, as in the above case, but also by be¬ 
coming oxidized and converted into the various salts of the 
metal, be taken up by the growing plants and thus render 
the herbage poisonous. This was proved to have been the 
case in an examination made by Dr. Taylor on some grass 
from the neighbourhood of Mendip, and recorded in his work 
on 4 Poisons/ 
DR. BUSTEED ON STRINGHALT. 
Letter from Mr. George Fleming, F.R.G.S., F.A.S.L., 
Y.S., King’s Own Hussars. 
0 
Gentlemen, — I regret very much that I had not an op¬ 
portunity of seeing the March number of your Journal until 
after the date for despatching communications, as I should 
have been most anxious, with your kind permission, to reply 
to that portion of Dr. Busteed’s letter wherein he does me 
the honour of sundry remarks, which, if neither very lucid, 
very instructive, nor yet kindly conceived, at least merit a 
response, as that gentleman deigns to seek for information on 
the subject of stringhalt beyond that which, seemingly, he is 
able to find in a collection of more than Jive hundred works 
on veterinary science. 
Professor Varnell’s comments on the other portions of the 
doctor’s letter will, I think, go to testify in the strongest 
manner that there are some matters, besides the actual and 
true pathology of stringhalt, in which my interrogator is not 
quite at home, though these pertain as much to human as 
they do to comparative anatomy and physiology. 
