PREFACE. 



This work is especially designed to supply the need of 

 the busy American farmer who can rarely avaU of the ad- 

 vice of a scientific veterinarian. The Author is deeply sen- 

 sible of the low estimate placed upon Veterinary Medicine 

 and Surgery in the United States, and of the necessity of 

 educating the public up to a better appreciation of its 

 value. We have a property in live stock estimated at 

 $1,500,000,000, and rapidly increasing in value, consisting 

 of at least six different genera of mammals, besides birds, 

 and therefore affording an almost unlimited field for the 

 practical exercise of humanity, pohtical economy and 

 scientific research in the pursuit of Veterinary Medicine. 

 In the Old World millions are saved yearly to each of the 

 Western European Nations in the exclusion and extinction 

 of animal plagues, and many instances can be adduced of 

 an intelligent veterinary supervision saving at the rate of 

 $30,000 per annum on a stud of 400 horses. But in the 

 Western Hemisphere, apart from the larger cities, the 

 great pecuniary interest in live stock is lai'gely at the 

 mercy of ignorant pretenders whose barbarous sui-gery is 

 only equaled by their reckless and destructive drugging. 

 Thfe constantly recurring instances of absolute and painful 

 poisoning, and cruel and injurious vivisections practiced 

 under the name of remedial measures are almost sickening 

 to contemplate. To give the stock owner such informa- 



