80 



comparison of his case with any of the argu- 

 ments laid down in this treatise. But if any 

 man choose to proceed in that course, and, (ne- 

 glecting to avail himself of the opinion of those 

 whose professional ahilities hetter qualify them 

 for the arduous task,) acts upon false premises, 

 surely I am not responsible for the conse- 

 quences ; for I again repeat, that this is not a 

 treatise on the laws of horse-dealing, but simply 

 a referential compendium of those diseases 

 which give birth to disputes in buying or sell- 

 ing that animal. 



In the execution of this design, I feel con- 

 scious that I have left much undone ; but the 

 difficulty of the undertaking must be my chief 

 apology both for omissions and inaccuracies. 



To those who estimate the value of a book 

 by the number of pages it contains, the present 

 work may perhaps appear defective in that 

 respect. By adopting the modern art of hook- 

 mak'wii. I certainlv could have swelled it out 

 to much larger dimensions, but I considered 

 that the principal desiderata, in treatises of this 

 description, were brevity and perspicuity. Sucli 

 was the object I had in view : I trust tliat I 

 have, in some measure, attained it. 



