12 



proceed with eafe and difpatch towards the cure, 

 without wading through laborious reafoning, long 

 cafes, or cramp technical phi'afes- In human me- 

 dicine, a domeflic treatife on the cure of difeafe is 

 fuppofed to border on empiricifm, and a man fo 

 writing is deemed liable to injure the health of man- 

 kind, and the particular welfare of the regular prac- 

 titioner; but though this may in fome meafure ap- 

 ply to human medicine, becaufe in moft places, 

 however fmall, there is commonly fome furgeon or 

 apothecary near, from whom the fick may find rea- 

 dy relief, yet in veterinary medicine it cannot apply ; 

 for even large towns, many of them, have no re- 

 gular veterinarian, while fmaller towns, villages, and 

 the country at large, are all of them deprived of any 

 other affiftance than what can be gained from the 

 neighbouring fmith ; or, at leaft, they can very fel- 

 dom produce any perfon at all fit to be trufted : 

 therefore any plan that renders perfons in general 

 able to treat the difeafes of their animals fuccefs- 

 fully, without riik or trouble, muft be a valuable 

 one. This I have endeavoured to lay down in the 

 following flieets. 



But ev^n when this is gained, that is, when per- 

 fons are enabled readily to diflinguifli one difeafe 

 from another, and when the treatment of the feveral 

 difeafes is underflood, even then, in mofl cafes, the 

 remedies are often not within their reach ; for, fre- 

 quently^ no chemift, druggift, or apothecary is near^ 



