trums at random, is far more liable to put an end to the life of his patient than to arrest the progress of the disorder. Such men should never be allowed to tamper with the meanest animal. It is only to those who, from close study and long practice, have acquired an accurate knowledge of the anatomy, diseases, habits, and general management of domesticated animals, that their medical treatment can with safety be intrusted.
It is, however, by no means our intention in this work to give a formal treatise on the anatomy, physiology, and diseases of the pig, but simply to lay before our readers a tolerably comprehensive sketch of the general structure of the animal, and the alterations and evils to which certain parts are liable, and this divested as much as possible of all the technicalities of professional language. A description of the different parts, their form, situation, action, and functions, as well as their admirable adaptation to the ends for which they were designed, will lead us to a consideration of the diseases incidental to them to the treatment proper to be adopted and to some account of the various operations which it may occasionally be requisite to perform. In short, we would present them with a practical digest of all that is yet known relative to this too much neglected branch of veterinary science; one that shall serve as a book of reference in cases of doubt or emergency, and aid in introducing those great truths and leading doctrines, which form the groundwork upon which the practice of every branch of medical science ought to be based, into the last strongholds of ignorance and empiricism.
In entering upon the anatomy and diseases of swine, we may be said to take possession of a new and almost untrodden field, one as yet scarcely recognized as belonging to any earlier occupants; and here, in the onset, it will be as well to observe that, careful and lucid as we shall endeavor to make our descriptions, we should only mislead the agriculturist or grazier if we were to encourage him to believe that they will enable him wholly to dispense with a veterinary surgeon. Far from it; we would rather persuade him to seek at once the assistance of the well-educated and scientific practitioner, who, from close study, practical experience, and surgical skill, is qualified sucessfully to grapple with the most obscure and fatal diseases. We would enable him to assist the veterinary surgeon in his often arduous task, by giving him that information as to the previous symptoms, habits, &c., of the patient, which can alone enable him to proceed with certainty, and will tend to save the life of many a valuable animal; and, lastly, we would warn him against empirics.
Swine, from having been, until very lately, considered as a subordinate species of stock, have not yet, to any extent, become sharers in the benefits which an improved system of agriculture, and the
