GENERAL INTEODUCTION. 



The structure of the horse, the diseases to which he is subject, and the injuries to which 

 he is continually exposed, have been investigated with the greatest success, not only in 

 Great Britain, but in other countries. Associations have been formed, and colleges 

 founded, for the advancement of veterinary science ; and eminent practical professors are 

 engaged in the dissemination of its principles; so that it has now taken a very elevated 

 position. Its practice is no longer left in the hands of the uneducated and unskilful : 

 the horse, the dog, and the beasts of the farm generally, are no longer subjected to the 

 tortures of callous-hearted and presumptuous ignorance, but are placed under the care 

 of gentlemen who have gained the general respect of the community, and the confidence 

 of those with whom they come in immediate contact, and whose experience, intelligence, 

 and humanity entitle them to the onerous position their profession calls upon them 

 to fill. 



As it is hardly possible to over-estimate the value of the Dog to mankind, a com- 

 prehensive, yet sufficiently full description of all the species of that animal, will be 

 found in the division assigned to their treatment. In the most primitive ages, the dog 

 was the follower and the friend of man ; and so much has his wonderful sagacity, united 

 to his physical qualities, excited the admiration of some nations, that they have even 

 bowed the knee, and worshipped him. In the first books of the Scriptures he is 

 frequently mentioned, but not as an animal which had taken its place among the wild 

 beasts. He is spoken of as one which had become domesticated, and had already iden- 

 tified himself with the social attributes and idiosyncrasies of the lords of the creation. 

 From the remotest times he was held in especial veneration by the Egyptians ; was 

 actually worshipped at Hermopolis the Great ; and, shortly afterwards, in all the towns 

 and cities of Egypt. Juvenal tells us, " that whole cities worship the dog (Anubis) ; no 

 one Diana" — a lamentation in which, no doubt, numbers of his mythological country- 

 men would join. Subsequently, Cynopolis, the "city of the dog," was built in honour 

 of that animal, and splendid festivals instituted in his honour. In the Greek mythology 

 he plays a no less prominent part, and guards the gates of Hades in the form of Cerberus, 

 with three heads, as being indicative of the extreme watchfulness of his character. The 

 Persian fire-worshippers, like the Egyptians, paid him divine honours, and elected his 

 shape to symbolise the Good Principle, which enabled them to baffle the powers of evil, 

 when assailed by them. By the modern Parsees he is still held in high veneration. 

 Leaving the East, and crossing the Atlantic for the West, we find it stated by 

 De la Vega that the Peruvians formerly worshipped the dog ; but it somewhat detracts 

 from any spiritual character with which they may have thought him invested, when we 

 are told that they fed upon his flesh at their festivals. 



If these facts exhibit the profound superstition of the different nations of whom 

 they are recorded, they also go far in proving the possession of qualities which, in this 

 animal, entitles it to universal esteem. But it need not be a subject of wonder why the 

 dog has always held such a high and honourable place in the affections of mankind, as 

 it is his nature to participate in the general enjoyments, sports, pastimes, and even 

 duties and cares of those with whom his lot is cast. Those who have given the slightest 

 study to his habits, must have observed how soon he moulds his disposition to that of 

 his master, or that of the family with whom he is taken into membership. If he should 

 chance to be the property of a poacher or a ruffian, his character usually degenerates, 

 as his natiu-e invariably assimilates itself to that of his possessor. Like his master, he 

 becomes a sort of lawless animal, surly, gross, and rude, and ready for any sort of rough 



