PREFACE. 
earth with germs for fructification, which, in the day of the har- 
vest thereof, might be gathered and garnered tor the benefit of 
man and the inferior orders of creation. 
And long ere the woodman’s ax ceases to vibrate its clear. 
stroke-notes in the ears of the new settlers, a giant enterprise is 
in contemplation. Space and distance must be comparatively an- 
nihilated; the iron horse, with his lungs of steel and breath of 
steam, must have his highway and byway, and the result is, the 
choice spirits of progression have been earnestly engaged in dot- 
ting a vast surface of United States Territory with a magnificent 
net-work of railway and telegraphic wire; and various other en- 
terprises, with which the reader is familiar, have so occupied tha 
American mind, that the Science of Life, as it applies to animals, 
has been almost at a stand-still. 
In the prosecution of these objects, so essential as they hav 
proved in the economy of an infant republic, it is not surpris- 
ing that our science should fail to receive attention, and that 
America should be in the rear of the veterinary squadrons of 
the Old World; yet, notwithstanding this seeming indifference, 
veterinary science does, in some parts of this country, occupy as 
high a platform as that which obtained in England, about seventy 
years ago, when the Apostle of Mercy, St. BEL, first landed oa 
British soil. 
The se:ence which we here advocate is as valuable and chari- 
table to nature’s menials, for the purpose of ministering to their 
paysical wants, relieving their aches and pains, and of prolong- 
ing their lives, as that practiced on the more noble of created life ; 
and, at the present day, testimony can be produced going to show 
that among us can be found “ good Samaritans ” who are alway’ 
ready to minister to the wants of the inferior orders of creation— 
a work as acceptable to the God of Nature, and as creditable te 
manhood, as when the welfare of one of us is concerned. Anda 
should we estimate the science in exact ratio to the value and use- 
fulness of the legion host of domestic animals that have been 
reared in this country, and those which, without regard to cost, 
have been imported, to whose welfare it directly contributes, the 
reader will readily perceive that it is entitled to the consideration 
and support of a nation of husbandmen. 
It must be borne in mind that a knowledge of the principles 
of veterinary medicine can not be acquired without diligent study: 
