IV PREFACE. 



noticed; every thing having been rejected which 

 could not admit of a practical application. For 

 this reason, also, I have omitted all allusion to 

 foreign varieties of the sheep, an account of which 

 is, in some similar works, made to occupy so 

 large a space. The general laws by which ani- 

 mal bodies are governed, and the changes to 

 which they are rendered liable by their subser- 

 viency to man, are here — and for the first time as 

 regards the sheep — ^gone into at considerable 

 length. Too little value is in general attached 

 to such inquiries ; though, when endeavouring to 

 improve a domesticated race, we must be perfectly 

 aware, that without this species of knowledge we 

 are like a ship at sea without the guiding aids of 

 the rudder and the compass, and liable to be 

 carried in the right or in the wrong direction 

 only as chance directs. 



In conclusion, I need make no apology for any 

 defects that may appear in this little work, hav- 

 ing done my best to make it useful to the farmer. 



Castle Street, Dumfrifh, 



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