VI PREFACE. 



to omit the arguments wliicli have been advanced in 

 support of many theories. It may be fancied that in 

 these cases I am dogmatic, but a full statement of each 

 controversy would have trespassed too much on my space 

 and perchance on the patience of my readers, to many 

 of whom the work will, even in its present form, seem 

 quite large enough. I the less regret that I have 

 not been in a position to exhaustively treat my subject, 

 since simultaneously with the announcement of this manual 

 appears that of a larger and more pretentious work on the 

 same subject, by an author whose ability has been already 

 proved by an excellent volume on 'Canine Pathology,^ 

 Professor J. W. Hill, F.R.O.Y.S. My treatise on 'Bovine 

 Pathology ' is specially prepared for the veterinary practi- 

 tioner and student. I desire that for the former it may 

 be a useful means of recalling facts, which in the rush of 

 daily business are apt to slip the memory, and may also 

 afford a ready reference to past periodical literature, 

 through which he would neither have time nor inclination 

 to wade. At the expense of severe literary research I 

 have summarised and arranged the facts which have been 

 communicated to the profession through the medium 

 of our journals. But while I have thus endeavoured 

 to produce an exact statement of the present condition 

 of cattle practice, I have not aimed at a record of pro- 

 found investigation. Neither the state of the profession 

 nor of science demands this, so I have been content to 

 think at every point ''how does this concern the prac- 

 titioner ?'' The requirements of the student are similar, 

 also his knowledge must be comprehensive and exact for 

 the emergencies of examinations. Thus, I have specially 

 aimed at method, the application of general principles, 

 and precise statement of facts and conclusions. Also I 

 have inserted accounts of methods of administration and 

 other details which might to the practitioner seem trivial. 

 I have endeavoured to as much as possible indicate the 

 relations of diseases of the ox to those of other animals, 

 and have, wherever necessary, alluded to liability of com- 

 munication of disorders to man, as by contagion, meat, 



