PREFACE 

 TO THE FOURTH EDITION. 



As by common consent I appear to be considered the 

 Father of Canine Pathology , it follows, of course, that it will 

 be expected of me as a parent that I should from time to 

 time be doing something for the child of my adoption. Not 

 to disappoint such expectations, this edition will be found to 

 present some important alterations and additions. The 

 anecdotical portion, as not necessarily connected with the 

 subject at large, has here given place to a more extended 

 inquiry into the animal himself, and to the introduction of 

 some canine diseases not noticed before. The matter of the 

 work is now divided into three parts. The first embraces 

 the Natural History of the Dog, with an Inquiry into his 

 primeval origin, and into the probable sources of his promi- 

 nent varieties. Tlie second part is, diQYoiQdi io a theoretical 

 and practical consideration of the System of Breeding and 

 Rearing these Animals, with their general Treatment, as our 

 subservients, and the means of keeping them in Health. 

 The third part comprehends their Diseases, when their 

 health has been attacked ; the alphabetical arrangement 

 of which, in former editions has given place in this to 

 such a methodical classification as, while it renders it not 

 less easy of reference to the amateur, will be more acceptable 

 to the professional reader, from the relative view it will 

 afford him of the various subjects thus congenerously 

 grouped. Not that what is now offered has any pretensions 

 to a strict nosological classification : on the contrary, it is 

 evident that the work must yet continue to be so framed 



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