viii Preface to American Edition. 



teaching to devote considerable effort to direct the thought of the 

 reader along lines of pathological physiology, to make the student 

 reason for himself from given anatomical data and appearances 

 as to the necessary functional faults and failures which would 

 follow. Pathological anatomy is, of course, fundamental and 

 finds its place on every page ; but the author has had in mind 

 the application of pathology to the living diseased animal, and 

 the anatomical descriptions and discussions serve as a basis for 

 explanation of the development of the processes and the func- 

 tional faults the diseased animal must necessarily manifest. The 

 chapters on disturbances of the circulatory, respiratory and other 

 functions are, of course, brief, but they are by no means super- 

 ficial and indicate well the lines of necessary study for the prac- 

 ticing physician and are stimulative to thought on the part of 

 the student. 



The value of such a work is not confined to the veterinarian ; 

 the intimate relations comparative pathology bears to the study of 

 human medicine and the need that experimentalists should be in 

 the best possible position to appreciate the reactions peculiar to 

 various species of experiment animals require of pathologists 

 broader and broader powers of recognition. Much of the criticism 

 against animal experimentation has its only force in that in the 

 hands of men unfamiliar with the animals utilized, both in their 

 normal life and in their pathological reactions, the best results 

 are not obtained, at least not appreciated, by such workers in 

 return for the sacrifice entailed. The best is accomplished, other 

 things being equal, by men whose training comprehends a broad 

 biological and physiological experience and who are familiar with 

 the peculiarities of physiological reaction and anatomical changes 

 to be met in the animals employed under the operation of given 

 pathogenic influences. Such works as the present volume, intro- 

 ductory to the fuller Special Pathology in the companion volumes 

 of the German edition, have therefore a proper place on the 

 shelves of every pathologist, whether his work deals with human 

 or with comparative problems as its major field. 



In presenting the book to our English-speaking colleagues and 

 students, .the editor and translator have endeavored to follow 

 closely Professor Kitt's language, although no attempt to be abso- 

 lutely literal in the translation has been made. Doubtless the 

 effort to translate the German idiom to its English equivalent has 

 often failed ; and we both appreciate the fact that unwittingly the 



