Th is book is about medical beliefs and practices for animals in early modern England. Although there are numerous texts on the subject of human health, this is the fi rst to focus exclusively on animals during this period. Th e main reason for this is probably linked to the dichotomy of medical historians that Roy Porter referred to over fi ft een years ago. Today, the majority tend to focus on the experience of health and illness for humans over the centuries. Th ese historians have been joined over the past decade by a small, but growing number of academics interested in veterinary medicine. Unfortunately, their writings.