xxxii On Comparative Anatomy, and the 



which might have heen easily prevented hy a scientific treat- 

 ment. 



The aid which comparative anatomy is capahle of afford- 

 ing to veterinary medicine, must he evident to every one 

 who reflects a moment upon the subject. 



" The veterinary art is a practical application of scientific 

 principles, to the preservation of the health of domestic ani- 

 mals, and to the cure of their diseases, in the same manner 

 as the art of medicine applies to the health and preservation 

 of man : and the science on which this art is grounded, and 

 which it requires for its perfect exercise, comprises the na- 

 tural history, anatomy, physiology, and pathology of those 

 animals, together with such portions of the vegetable and 

 mineral kingdoms as are connected with them, either in the 

 way of aliment or remedy, 



^< To practice this art with certainty, it is necessary to make 

 a special and accurate investigation of the economy of the 

 animal itself, and to observe minutely the different effects 

 that the different subjects of the materia medica might have 

 upon it, and to repeat those inquiries with the same exact- 

 ness, for every animal that is the subject of the art ; and 

 moreover, to superadd such knowledge of the human anato- 

 my, as may be of use in the way of comparison. "^^ ^ ^i^^ 

 of study like this, requires a leisure and education, far be- 

 yond the capacities and circumstances of those to whom the 

 care of our animals has been hitherto abandoned, and yet 

 such is the importance of the art, that a course of study as 

 long and as circumstantial as that just detailed, is indispen- 

 sable for those who would fully, fairly, and honourably en- 

 gage in the exercise of it ; nay, from the inability of the 

 sick animal to describe his feelings, and to point out the scat 

 of his pain, his pathology must necessarily be uncertain, and 

 consequently we might suppose, that a greater degree of 

 judgment and penetration are requisite for the physician of 

 animals than of mankind. What then must be the feelings 



