In the writer's conviction, humanity toward animals should be more commonly practiced--if not from any higher motive, because it is certainly the truest economy. To make this fact plain is the intention of the present publication. To prove that horses are gifted with something beyond the mere sensation which is common to all moving things is the object of the present work. To convince the public, by appealing to the eye and to the understanding through the means of engravings and of letter-press, that the equine race inherit higher feelings than the vast majority of mankind are prepared to admit, is the purpose of the book now in the hands of the reader. To demonstrate how closely nature has associated man and horse in their liabilities and in their diseases--to induce men, by informing their sympathies, to treat more tenderly the timid life which is disposed to serve and is also willing to love them--is the highest reward the author of the following pages can picture to himself. When making the foregoing acknowledgments, the author does not affect to disdain that recompense which is the due of every person who labors in any arduous pursuit. This, of course, he accepts. Though it did not enter into his thoughts when contemplating the composition of the present book, it nevertheless may have stimulated his exertions to perfect it. But, in addition to any weight that can be attached to such a motive, he desired to compose a work which should render the gentleman who had consulted it independent of his groom's dictation; which should enable any person who had read it capable of talking to a veterinary surgeon without displaying either total ignorance or pitiable prejudice; which, in cases of emergency, might direct the uninitiated in the primary measures necessary to arrest the progress of disease; and which, when professional assistance could not be obtained, might even instruct the novice how to treat equine disorders in such a manner as would afford a reasonable prospect of success. When the regular diet and simple lives of most horses are regarded, the latter expectations certainly do not seem beyond the reach of human ambition. Cleanly and simple remedies alone are required; and these gentlemen of the highest rank may, without fear of taint or of ridicule, condescend to prescribe. To secure such an end, the present book has been written in plain language. The author has endeavored to eschew hieroglyphics and to avoid technicalities. The meaning has shaped the terms employed, and all the graces of style have been intentionally discarded. In conclusion, the author has to thank the publishers for the very handsome shape in which they have been pleased to embody his efforts; likewise he has to acknowledge an obligation to the skill and the ability with which the Messrs. Dalziel have seconded his endeavors. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. The Brain and Nervous System--Their Accidents and their Diseases.