PBEFACE. Vll 



him for a successful career in a useful and honorable profession ; and if 

 I shall have succeeded in this ob^ct, and the success shall be certified by 

 the verdict yet to be pronounced, I shall feel fully satisfied and more than 

 ever encouraged to persevere in my eSEorts to elevate the standard of vet- 

 erinary science in America. 



No toil has been spared, no efEort relaxed, in the prosecution of the 

 design and desire to compel the approval of the judicious, and even to 

 escape the strictures of the critical, and I have not failed to seek for aid 

 and counsel from competent coadjutors. The entire text has undergone 

 revision, with a view to the improvement of its idiomatic structure, by my 

 esteemed friend, H. D. Holt, M. D., of Jersey City, N. J., to whom I am 

 also indebted for the favor of supervising the proof and overlooking the 

 issue and arrangement of the various chapters ; and my publishers, Messrs. 

 Sabiston & Murray, have exercised a true liberality in providing an exter- 

 nal garment and garniture for the contents of the book, in all respects 

 correspondent w^ith their value and interest. To these gentlemen, there- 

 fore, are due my warmest acknowledgments for whatever of internal and 

 external attractiveness may characterize the Manual of Opeeativb Vet- 

 EEINAET SuKGEEY, and they are cordially and freely tendered. 



I have now only to express the hope that this contribution to the 

 cause of veterinary progress may be as kindly received and favorably 

 judged by my colleagues as it is honestly designed to effect its object by 

 me, and that any shortcomings in the execution of the work may be len- 

 iently regarded. And so it goes into the hands of the public, to share the 

 fate of all human ventures, for better or for worse, as its fate may be. 



THE AUTHOE. 



