PREFACE BY THE TRANSLATOR AND 

 EDITOR, 



IN undertaking the arduous task of translating and editing the ' Traite d' 

 mie Comparee des Animaux Domestlques ' of M. Chauveau, I have been 

 moved by a desire to fill a void in medical literature which has always 

 existed, so far as the English language is concerned. There has been no 

 complete treatise on the anatomy of the domesticated animals, and the 

 absence of such a work has exerted a serious influence on the progress of 

 veterinary science, and doubtless proved more or less of a loss to the 

 community at large. 



The only text book to which the student or practitioner of animal 

 medicine could until recently refer, has been that on the anatomy of the 

 Horse, written by the late distinguished army veterinary surgeon, William 

 Percivall, more than forty years ago : a book which, though in every way 

 creditable to its author, was notoriously incomplete, even as regards the 

 anatomy of the only animal it treated of, and was without illustrations. No 

 serious attempt has been made to teach the structure of the other useful 

 creatures domesticated by man, valuable though many of them are ; and 

 the student who was anxious to acquire this knowledge had no guide to 

 lead or instruct him. At college, this loss may not have been so severely 

 felt as when, having graduated, he entered on the practice of his profession ; 

 and if the experience of veterinary surgeons in general has been like my 

 own, they will be ready to testify to the almost daily regret they felt 

 nt the very meagre notions of anatomy they possessed, and the benefit a 

 complete and trustworthy manual would confer. 



My professional avocations in the army would not permit me to make 

 the necessary dissections for the production of such a work : and indeed 

 so many classical and standard treatises on the subject have appeared, 

 (luring this century, on the Continent, and notably in France and Germany, 

 *bat it would seem a mere waste of time and labour to attempt a task which 



