PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. IX 



to form. While thus uTesolute, accidental circum- 

 stances drew me into extensive correspondencies on 

 the diseases of animals, and I became, in conse- 

 quence, irresistibly and almost insensibly drawn into 

 a popular practice on them. Further consideration 

 seemed to point this as a path at once eligible 

 and useful, and one which my former predilections 

 strengthened me in my determination to pursue. In 

 this almost unbeaten track I might hope to reap 

 both fame and emolument ; and although the prac- 

 tice of brute medicine must always be considered as 

 subordinate to that of the human, yet the humanity 

 and utility of the pursuit ought ever to gain its pro- 

 fessors the meed of honourable distinction. For 

 myself, it is not without pride and self-approbation 

 that I reflect that I am the first person in this, and, 

 perhaps, in any other country, who has reduced to 

 systematic and acknowledged principles the medical 

 treatment of the diseases of that most useful ani- 

 mal, the dog ; a treatment founded on a knowledge 

 of his anatomy, animal economy, and long and at- 

 tentive observation of his morbid appearances. 



Regarding myself, therefore, as the very father of 



