IV J>T1BT T '~ '"S* PRKFACfi. 
The book is not in any sense in the interest of any breed or breeds, and 
even less is it in the interest of any class of breeders or importers. In these 
things the interests of truth and the reader have been the influences that 
controlled. 
If in the directions given throughout the work we have subjected our- 
selves to the charge of making a hobby of careful and tender treatment of 
animals, we reply that a long experience, and the observations of a life- 
time, have very strongly impressed us that, not only humanity, but econ- 
omy is best served by kindness, and if the influence of this book shall lead 
to a more general study of the comfort of domestic animals, we will feel 
that we have served the financial interest of the breeder in an equal propor- 
tion to the welfare of the animals. 
Hard names and technical terms have been avoided as much as possible, 
but when terms of anatomical and medical science have been necessarily 
employed, they are explained and applied with a degree of plainness and 
precision that brings them within the ready comprehension of every reader. 
To aid the non-professional owner in deciding the nature of disease, 
engravings are given which show the positions in the different stages of 
various diseases, and which cannot fail to be of great value in determining 
the character of the disorder. 
Special attention is called to the new illustrations which have been 
specially made for this edition and which appear in no other 
The new chapters specially written by Mr. George E. Howard, upon the 
subject of pigeons and pets, is also to be found in no other edition, being 
written by this well-known expert exclusively fqr us. 
* * * 
Washington, D. C., 1899. 
