INTRODUCTION. 
3 
and remedies, so that they may be applied in time of need, 
and where a regular veterinary practitioner is not at hand. 
Some of the diseases incidental to horses and cattle are 
so marked in their character, that a little experience will 
easily enable a person accustomed to be among those animals, 
to detect it with facility, and in such cases, medicine may be 
safely administered, according to the rules we have laid down; 
but there are other disorders, whose characters are of a more 
complicated form, which ought not to be treated by a person 
uneducated in the veterinary art. In such cases it will 
always be found safer and cheaper in the end to apply to 
regular practitioners. 
Although in a certain sense there is some analogy between 
the diseases of man and animals, yet these are exceedingly 
different in their specific characters, and consequently in the 
remedies applied for their cures ; the construction of the 
stomach, the length of the alimentary canal and small intes¬ 
tines, with other organic distinctions—all combining to 
render the specific quantity and character of the medicines 
to differ essentially. 
Nevertheless, it is quite possible to acquire a thorough 
knowledge of all that is known in the veterinary art, by per¬ 
sons in private life; although considerable study, as may 
well be supposed, is necessary to attain this degree of 
knowledge. 
The first thing to be studied is to acquire a knowledge of 
the skeleton, then of the muscles, and lastly of the internal 
organization. The two first of these are pretty much alike 
in all our domestic animals, but a very great difference will 
be found in the internal structure. For the skeleton and 
muscles, works and good engravings will give a good idea to 
the beginner ; and after acquiring the names of the different- 
bones and muscles, the student must practise upon dead 
