"VIU - PREFACE. 



coveries in every branch of medicine. It is most 

 certain there is no one period of history where the 

 horse has been ranked so high in general estimation, 

 or rendered of such intrinsic worth, by a display of 

 his various powers, as in the present age of experi- 

 ment and refinement. 



To this cause may undoubtedly he attributed the 

 very great attention paid for some years past to the 

 breed of the distinct and separate classes for the 

 turf, field, road, or draft; and as their value has, 

 in a very short space of time, absolutely doubled 

 their former worth, surely we ought to be propor- 

 tionally anxious for their preservation, whether for 

 s'govt convenience, or emolument. The almost in- 

 credible number of this truly valuable part of the 

 creation, that annually fall victims to the invincible 

 confidence of those rustic sons of Vulcan, self-de- 

 nominated /a7'?'u?'5, (with the thunder of whose 

 ignorance almost every village resounds) has for 

 years seemed to implore the assistance of some in- 

 telligent member of society to come forward; and, 

 by blending the administration of medicines with a 

 practical knowledge of their propei^ties and effects, 

 rescue the poor suffering animals from the con- 

 stant, invariable, and Uiirelenting depredations of 

 illiterafg practitioners and experimental perse- 

 cutors. 



Well aNvare of the arduous task of attempting to 



