THE PRACTICE 



OP 



VETERIXARY MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



Froim the earliest ages, animals as well as men have been 

 treated for disease according to a mode more or less 

 systematic. 



AYe are told that the Egyptians were the first to under- 

 stand the management of the horse ; the Greeks obtained 

 their knowledge of the horse from the Egyptians. Xeno- 

 phon, Herodotus, Yegetius, etc., are all familiar names, 

 Yegetius having been styled the ' Yeterinary Hippocrates.' 



The name ' veterinarian ' is a very old one, and is a modi- 

 fication of the Latin word ' veterinarius.' 



The early history of the veterinary art presents little 

 worthy of notice ; for hundreds of years the art languished, 

 and very little progress was made. 



During the sixteenth century the first decisive step in 

 an upward direction was taken : the works of Yegetius, as 

 well as many more which had long lain neglected and 

 almost forgotten, were translated into the various European 

 languages, and eagerly read by an appreciative people. In 



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