V1U PREFACE. 



tions of the various substances obtained from the animal 

 world employed in medicine, must either consult a long se- 

 ries of expensive books, or be content with the short notices 

 contained in the usual treatises on the Materia Medica, and 

 hence the important subject has been very generally neglect- 

 ed. The popular and expensive works now referred to un- 

 doubtedly contain much that is interesting and important 

 on these topics ; they are not, however, adapted to the general 

 reader. They wholly confine the attention of the student 

 to an account merely of medicinal articles, and of their com- 

 position and uses, rather than dwell particularly and at 

 length on the analysis and history of their sources. To sup- 

 ply this want has been the aim of the author in the present 

 publication, which is confined particularly to the Materia 

 Medica Animalia; and the very favorable reception given by 

 the public to his Materia Medica Botanica, published on the 

 same plan, encouraged him in the undertaking. 



The introduction contains a brief and general view of ani* 

 mal life, and a sketch of the structure and classification of 

 the whole animal world. Occasion has been taken, in the 

 delineation of this preliminary part of the work, to arrange 

 under its respective order, class, and division every Beast, Bird, 

 Fish, and Insect treated of in the work, that furnishes a 

 substance yielding a medicinal agent. That something of 

 this kind was necessary cannot be doubted, and the light 

 thrown upon these subjects by this means seems preferable 

 to incorporating the requisite additions for this purpose with 

 each subject in the body of the work. 



The Glossary, added to the other contents of the volume, 

 contains numerous terms used in zoological works, and other 

 words of frequent occurrence in, if not peculiar to, the study 

 of Natural History. The careful definition of these terms 

 will be esteemed as real desiderata. 



The extreme difficulty and great expense of executing the 

 colored plates at once in an accurate and elegant style, can 

 only be appreciated by those who have actually attempted 

 something of the same kind. It is gratifying, however, to find 

 that the general execution of the plates has met with the 

 public approbation, a fact of which the favorable notices 

 of the press and the large subscription list afford ample evi- 

 dence, and, it is hoped, a guaranty for what may appear in 

 future. 



