THE 



PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE 



OF 



VETERINARY MEDICINE. 



CHAPTER I. 

 I N T E D U C T E Y. 



The external diseases incidental to the domesticated animals 

 having been discussed in my work on Veterinary Surgery, I 

 purpose in the present volume to enter into a consideration of 

 the more purely medical or internal ailments from which our 

 patients are liable to suffer. 



I have advisedly made a distinction between Veterinary 

 Medicine and Veterinary Surgery, not only for the reason that 

 the subjects, thus divided, are more easily dealt with, but 

 because conclusions which may be considered almost hypo- 

 thetical and speculative in medicine, are replaced in surgery by 

 the tangible and demonstrable. 



Medicine is studied as a science and as an art : as a science, 

 when it inquires into all the circumstances under which diseases 

 become developed, the condition of their existence, and into their 

 nature and causes ; as an art, when it is directed towards the re- 

 cognition, the preventioii, and cure of diseases. In fact it is the 

 art of understanding the nature of diseases, so far as to appreciate 

 their causes, to prevent their occurrence when possible, and to 

 promote their cure or to relieve them when they occur. — 



(BiGLOW. AlTKEN.) 



In order that the student be enabled to comprehend IMedicine 

 as a science, and its application as an art, it is necessary he 



B 



