PREFACE. 



During ten years experience in teaching veterinary subjects 

 to agricultural students, certain difficulties have been constantly 

 encountered. Others doing this work have probably had similar 

 experience. There has been the difficulty of imperfect training, 

 or entire lack of training, in physiology and other subjects which 

 medical men recognize as fundamental. There is always pres- 

 ent the difficulty of presenting a technical subject in untechnical 

 language ; difficulty in securing satisfactory illustrations, and dif- 

 ficulty in giving the kind and character of veterinary work which 

 is generally demanded and conceded as necessary, without giving 

 our students a sort of training which will turn some of them into 

 unqualified practitioners. There has been serious difficulty in 

 covering, without a text book, a satisfactory amount of ground. 

 Many students do not take notes well, and hence for several years 

 I have been distributing mimeographed lecture notes to my 

 classes. 



During this time I have been more and more impressed with 

 the belief that a text book, wisely illustrated and carefully edited 

 for its legitimate use, would enable me to cover very much more 

 ground within the available time. 



The style of editing that has been adopted was selected with 

 a view to presenting the subject matter to students in a conspicu- 

 ous and easily grasped way. This must be our excuse and answer 

 to criticism which the expert printer may legitimately make. 



This work has been written more particularly as a text for 

 veterinary classes in agricultural colleges, but it is hoped that it 

 may prove helpful also to stockmen who are not able to attend 

 our agricultural colleges, but who care to know more of the ani- 

 mal machines with which they are working. I take this occasion 

 to deprecate the blind home dosing of stock to which farmers and 

 stockmen are very much inclined. The student should realize 



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