264] A TOPOGRAPHICAL 



Speaking of Dr. James, Johnson on one occasion said, " No man 

 brings more mind to his profession than James." This character, 

 from such a judge of mind, must ever stamp the memory of Dr. 

 James with respect. Dr. James was somewhat rough and unpo- 

 lished in his manners. Some whimsical stories are told of him ; 

 particularly of his evening prescriptions. However this may be, 

 and whatever might be Dr. James's failings, there can be no doubt 

 of his having been a skilful and experienced physician. 



For a long time his Fever Powder was violently opposed by the 

 Faculty ; an opposition which all secret nostrums ought to experi- 

 ence, but, in this instance, it subsequently appeared, unmerited. Dr. 

 Pearson took great pains in analyzing it, and concluded thai " by 

 calcining bone ashes, that is, phosphorated lime, with antimony in 

 a certain proportion, and afterwards exposing the mixture to a 

 white heat, a compound may be formed containing the same ingre- 

 dients, in the same proportion, and containing the same chemical 

 properties."* The London Pharmacopoeia now contains a prescrip- 

 tion under the title of Pulvis Antimonialis , which is intended to 

 answer the same purposes. " It is well known," says Dr. Pear- 

 son, " that this powder cannot be prepared by following the direc- 

 tions in the specification in the Court of Chancery." 



It has long been doubtful whether Dr. James was really the in- 

 ventor of this powder. Dr. Pearson remarks, that " the calcina- 

 tion of antimony and bone ashes produces a powder called Lile's 

 and Schawenberg's fever powder; a preparation described by 

 Schroeder and other chemists 150 years ago." "According to the 

 receipt in the possession of Mr. Bromfield, by which this powder 

 was prepared forty-five years ago, and before any medicine was 

 known by the name of James's Powder, two pounds of hartshorn 

 shavings must be boiled, to dissolve all the mucilage, and then, 

 being dried, be calcined with one pound of crude antimony till the 

 smell of sulphur ceases, and a light grey powder is produced. The 

 same preparation was given to Mr. Willis, above forty years ago, 

 by Dr. John Eaton, of the College of Physicians, with the material 

 addition, however, of ordering the calcined mixture to be exposed 

 to a given heat in a close vessel, to render it white." " Schroeder 

 prescribes equal weights of antimony and calcined hartshorn; and 

 Poterius and Michaelis, as quoted by Frederic Hoffman, merely or- 

 der the calcination of these two substances together (assigning no 

 proportion) in a reverberatory fire for several days." It has been 



* Philosoph. Trans, for 1791, p. 367. 



