INTRODUCTION. 



Jl BELIEVE 1 am the firft perfon in this 

 country, and, perhaps, in any other, who has paid 

 any very dire6t and decided attention to the difeafes 

 of dogs on fcientific principles; and as this is now 

 very generally known, fome improvements are of 

 courfe expeded from me, and fome publication 

 on the fubjed naturally looked for. But it mud 

 be remembered, that as I am almoft, if not wholly^ 

 original in my attention to this fubjcdl, fo I labour 

 under raanifeft difadvantages ; for 1 can derive no 

 affiftance from the labours of others, but have to 

 trace out every part of the medical treatment ftep by 

 llep. Many experiments muft be made, many fub- 

 jeds under difeafe attended to, and every variety of 

 remedy tried, before any detailed publication on 

 this fubjed can properly appear; but fuch a work,^ 

 I hope, fome time hence, to be able to ofi'er, in which 

 I fhall defcribe the ftrufture, functions, and (Eco- 

 nomy of thefe ufeful animals, and their natural and 

 artificial treatment, with the bcft mode of cute to 



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