MAJOR* S BRITISH REMEDY. 
167 
able family of promulgators of new truths, who, from no 
better reason than because the masses of men are prejudiced, 
are made to suffer martyrdom for daring to appear at the 
bar of public opinion, to advocate the cause of impartial 
truth. But whatever may have been Mr. Major’s lot else- 
where, we promise him fair dealing. We have no notion of 
making him a Galileo, merely by identifying him with the 
immortal and tortured philosopher, on the common ground 
of being sufferers for the truth’s sake ; we shall at once with- 
draw him from such company, by protesting that we are the 
advocates of no party ; we want the truth, and whoever are 
the promulgators, we shall welcome them as the benefactors 
of their race. 
Before entering into details, a few general observations 
may not be out of place. In 1852, Mr. Major announces to 
the world that, what men of science of bygone and of the 
present age have believed to be true is, in his opinion, false. 
What they have deemed impossible is perfectly within the 
sphere of his own abilities, and what have been considered 
matters of extreme difficulty, he knows to be easy beyond 
conception. Now 7 , though we believe, that none more than 
ourselves strive to investigate the truth with unprejudiced 
and unpreoccupied minds, we confess that, when w 7 e listen 
to dogmatic statements of opinion, we are always guarded 
against the possibility of deception ; and when a man treats 
with an air of indifference, nay, of sarcastic pleasantry, what 
the wise men of all time have considered matters of deep 
thought, w r e feel strongly inclined to doubt the value of his 
judgment. The tone which we thus censure in general terms 
is precisely that held by Mr. Major; and therefore it may 
seem likely that our verdict on his claims will savour of the 
prejudice which we confess is excited in our minds b} 7 the 
nature of his professions. But our candour must, to some 
extent at least, be accepted as a measure of our honesty ; and 
it must be borne in mind that our caution in testing the 
validity of evidence is a guarantee for the soundness of the 
judgment we may eventually pronounce, rather than a reason 
for impugning it. 
Mr. Major tells us, in his pamphlet, that his British Remedy , 
besides a variety of affections, cures all tumours and ossifi- 
cations in the horse. In manifest contradiction to the w 7 ords 
inscribed on his title-page, is the following statement, which 
he makes in his fourth page : — “ Mr. Major came to England 
and presented himself and credentials to the Veterinary 
College of London. Although treated with great politeness, 
his method of practice was considered not exactly legitimate, 
