694 
OBSERVATIONS ON SOUNDNESS. 
believe,, about 1500 members of the Royal College of Veteri¬ 
nary Surgeons; each and every one of whom, according to Mr. 
Percivall’s theory, has a right to act in the capacity of a judge. 
Now suppose all the attorneys and barristers in Great Britain 
had the same privilege, that is to say of giving their opinions 
as legal men, and those opinions not to be questioned ; I am 
inclined to think the law, and those who put their trust in 
lawyers, would be thrown into a fix very frequently. The 
members of the legal profession are certainly far in advance 
of us; the legislature has provided them with laws by which 
they must be guided, although various are the views taken by 
them as to the translation or interpretation of some of them; 
still, they can easily be understood as a general rule. We 
have no code of laws to guide us in our decisions; every 
examiner as to soundness has an opportunity of offering an 
opinion in every case he is called upon to look at. If our 
profession possessed a set of laws as to what constituted 
soundness and unsoundness, it would to a man be relieved of 
many a difficulty. 
Mr. Percivall declares positively that frush is not an 
unsoundness, except under certain circumstances. Mr. 
Oliphant, on the other hand, makes no distinction whatso¬ 
ever; but places the word unsoundness unqualifiedly against 
the name of the disease. This state of things is perplexing 
in the extreme, and must sooner or later be amended. 
I cannot fix the date when Mr. Percivall penned his remarks 
upon this disease. Were he now living, I have no doubt he 
would materially alter the opinion expressed by him in the 
page above alluded to; I mean as to the number of unsound 
animals to be met with in the present age. It is, I believe, 
very generally remarked that the greater number of horses 
in existence now are unsound in some way or another. This 
will refer more particularly to legal soundness. If this be 
true, it will be obvious how necessary it is for us to be able 
to classify our definitions as to soundness; and by so doing 
we shall in all probability remove much that is objectionable. 
It is no uncommon remark to hear that Mr. So-and-so never 
takes notice of such trifles. The courts of law afford much 
information in these matters, and it would benefit all those 
members of our profession who are in active practice if they 
would study these recorded cases, and write their views with 
regard to the fiat of the judge. It is by knowing the opinions 
of the multitude that the few are enabled to form properly 
digested codes of laws. There are few acts of parliament but 
will, and do admit of alteration and improvement, and so will it 
be in regard to the law as to soundness, unless the profession 
