IXTROD.] THE DISEASES OF HORSES. 1 1 



jects that pertain to the well-being of the valuable 

 animals committed to their charge *. 



7. The manner of studying the diseases of horses 

 with the fairest prospect of attaining a commen- 

 surate degree of proficiency to effect their cure, we 

 insist is the dissection of healthy subjects, at first. 

 For hereby the student is enabled to ascertain and 

 store up in his memory, accurate notions of the 

 internal formation and functions of the animal sys- 

 tem, as they ought to be performed, so as to con- 

 stitute health. Whilst the post mortem examination 

 of animals that die of diseases, would at all times 

 show the altered state of the viscus, (or part) most 

 affected by the disorder; as also, how this may have 

 influenced any other part, through contiguity, com- 

 panionship of feeling, or sympathy, — as the in- 

 flamed lungs on the sternum (or breast bone) the 

 stomach and kidneys, &c. In this manner only can 

 we put the student in horse medicine on the proper 

 course to be pursued for the detection of anomalies 

 in the symptoms, or teach him how to adapt his 

 remedies to the ever-changing nature of many dis- 

 eases, and of visceral inflammation as much as any 

 other; — that greatest of all plagues that attends 

 horse-keeping, by its latent effects- in reproducing 

 other disorders, as much, or more, than its im- 

 mediate ravages upon the constitution f. 



* We took occasion to advert to this pleasing fact, in the Grooms' 

 Oracle, page vii. of the Preface. 



\ At the Veterinary Colleges in France, the pupils study in 

 scarcely any other manner than by dissection. Very little pharmacy, 



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