INTRODUCTION. 



For every work that is worth the doing, a good reason may, if 

 necessary, be assigned, for how can a good work exist without a 

 reasonable cause! It may not be absolutely necessary to advance 

 a reason for the production of the present work on ' ' Veterinary 

 Homoeopathy in its Application to the Horse." Nevertheless it 

 is to be hoped that it will not detract from its usefulness if an 

 attempt is made to explain why the production of such a work 

 should have been entertained. 



During the last two decades the science of Physiology, which 

 purports to treat of the body in a state of health, and the science 

 of Pathology, which, in like manner, treats of the bodily functions 

 in a state of disease, have respectively made rapid advances both 

 as regards discovery and application; but, apart from those who 

 practice Homoeopathy, little or no advance has been made in the 

 science of Therapeutics, which is the science of curing disease; 

 this may seem an unwarrantably dogmatic assertion, but it has 

 been so frequently admitted by leaders of the medical profession 

 to be a lamentable fact, that any one who has a practical acquaint- 

 ance with the "better way," may well be pardoned for referring 

 to so weak a spot in the armour of the general orthodox practi- 

 tioner. In view of the fact that a very large majority of the 

 medical practitioners of the world, and for the sake of comparison 

 to all intents and purposes, all the Veterinary Practitioners, remain 

 faithful to the old system of medicine, which, since Homoeopathy 

 sprung into exi.stence has been termed Allopathy, the practical and 

 intelligent layman naturally asks tlie question as to what is the 

 distinction between these two systems; and in many instances it is 

 not before either he or .some dearly beloved friend has been 

 snatched from the jaws of death by means of the medical system 

 known as Homoeopathy after all that could be done by means of 

 the old-fashioned system of allopathy has been tried and failed, that 

 serious attention has been given to the subject and even then it is 



