INTRODUCTION. 



After traveling about over Texas and the South for three 

 years, practicing our profession as veterinary surgeons,, and in- 

 vestigating the diseases and ailments peculiar to the domesti- 

 cated animals here, we were very forcibly struck with this 

 thought: "How greatly in need are the stock raisers and stock 

 owners in Texas and the South of the proper information and 

 instructions on the general care of stock, and their treatment 

 while injured or diseased/' This thought, with the request of 

 hundreds of stock owners, stimulated us to the consideration of 

 writing a general Stock Book, plainly written and profusely il- 

 lustrated, by the aid of which every stock owner could treat the 

 majority of diseases and ailments of his stock; and, best of all, 

 learn how to care for them and keep them from becoming dis- 

 eased. In offering our work to the public for sale, we think we 

 have amply filled this want and demand. 



Texas, with her 7,000,000 cattle, 2,000,000 horses, 2,000,000 

 hogs, and 4,000,000 sheep, can boast of being by far the greatest 

 and best stock producing State in the Union; and then for her to 

 be so nearly without veterinary skill, and plainly written veterin- 

 ary books, shows the great need of a stock book of this kind on 

 every ranch, farm, and in the house of every stock owner in the 

 State. We find what few stock books there are in this country 

 are either too old or are not written in a language plain enough 

 for the ordinary citizen to understand. As veterinary science 

 during the last few years has made such rapid progress in in- 

 vestigating the exact nature and more successful treatment of 

 various stock diseases, therefore, a stock book at the present day 



