I have been liberal with European authors, not only in freely cred- 

 iting them with their discoveries and theories, and in many cases quoting 

 literally their opinions and arguments, but especially so in adopting their 

 illustrations and enriching the work with the artistic representations orig- 

 inating in their's— an emphatic manifestation of my high estimate of their 

 value and the skill of their execution. And it is thus that the names and 

 accomplishments of Rigot, Bouley, Qourdon, Peuch, Toussaint, Cadiot 

 and Zundel, of France ; of Brogniez and Degives, of Belgium ; of Hert- 

 wig, Hering, Moller and Hoffman, of Germany; of Lanzillotti-Buonsanti. 

 of Italy; and of Williams and Fleming, of England, will become famil- 

 iarly known to our readers. 



But while I have in great part been guided in my work by the char- 

 acter of that of our predecessors, I have not restricted myself to the 

 lines observed by them, or exclusively respected the authority or prece- 

 dents of European surgeons, but have sought to do justice to the progress 

 of American veterinarians by honoring the contributions they have made 

 to our surgical knowledge ; and it is due to accident alone, and to no in- 

 vidious design, if any omission or oversight has been committed, by which 

 any to whom credit should be awarded have failed to receive it. 



The chapters of the Manual which treat respectively upon "Frac- 

 tures" and upon "Operations on the Foot" are reprinted from my own 

 previous writings. Thus, in the first instance, the remarks upon frac- 

 tures, with the kind permission of the Hon. Jeremiah M. Rusk, Secretary 

 of the Department of Agriculture, are extracted from an article published 

 in " The Special Report on Diseases of the Horse;" and in the second in- 

 stance, touching the subject of operations on the foot, I have not hesitated 

 to utilize my own translation of Zundel, produced as long ago as the year 

 1881. In both cases improvement has been made upon the previous treat- 

 ment of these topics by the addition of numerous illustrative plates which 

 accompany the text. 



In the chapter upon operations on the genito-urinary apparatus the 

 reader is referred to my special work on the subject of " Castration," 

 which is not included in the present volume. 



In completing the task undertaken in the preparation of the Manual, 

 however perfect or imperfect may be the manner of its execution, while 

 I have been influenced by a desire to effect something for the benefit of 

 all classes of practitioners, including those of recent graduation, my ob- 

 ject above all has been to facilitate the labors of the young student while 

 industriously and anxiously toiling for the knowledge which is» to qualify 



