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PREFACE. 



AMERICANS rank high in the estimation of the scientific 

 world for their genius and industry in the great Avork of 

 intellectual, moral, and scientific improvements. See what has 

 occurred in the arts of printing, electrotyping, etc. The eloquence 

 of the great literary magicians of the New World, the honored 

 graduates of free institutions and free schools, no sooner falls from 

 their lips than the phonographist transfers it to paper, the nimble 

 fingers of the compositor puts it into " form ; " next the " battery " 

 deposits on the face of the type a more durable coating of copper, 

 and " Hoe's press" sends off " impressions" with almost magical 

 rapidity. No less surprising are the wonderful feats performed 

 by American mechanics, in the construction of fast yachts and 

 steamers, which often pluck a laurel from the so-called " Mistress 

 of the Sea ; " and old '' Uncle John " gives us due credit for per- 

 fect! uh a race of fast trotters that can beat the world of horse- 



flesh. 



Improvements in every department of Science and Art are con- 

 stantly treading on the heels of improvement; yet, as regards the 

 science of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery, America seems almost 

 the last among civilized nations to put hor shoulder to the wheel. 

 What can be the reason? Her youth may be offered as a plea 

 foi excuses. The daughter of the Old World has not yet, in this 

 department, arrived at vears of discretion ; she is yet in her teens 

 Her sons have borne the heat and burden of the day in establish- 

 ing their liberty, in founding cities, extending commerce, and in 

 taming the wild face of soil, by uprooting the giant oak, and in 

 clearing away the forest, so that the husbandman, with ])low and 

 harrow in hand, might follow on, and next impregnate mother 



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