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NAVICULARTHRITIS. 
did not those I have taken appear sufficient to prove that Moor- 
croft was well acquainted with the seat and nature of navicular- 
thritis under the appellation of “coffin-joint lameness;” and that 
it was, in point of fact, this identical disease to which his letter to 
Sir Edward Codrington, in the year 1804, had reference. 
In 1808, Moorcroft quitted England for India, leaving Field, 
senior, in possession of his practice in Oxford-street, and Cole- 
man sole Professor at the Veterinary College, by which latter 
gentleman lectures were continued to be given at the College, 
without — as I have already shewn — any mention whatever being 
made of the navicular joint disease : leading us to infer that Moor- 
croft had imparted none of the knowledge he possessed of “ coffin- 
joint lameness” to his successor, Coleman. Indeed, from the time 
Moorcroft departed for India, false notions about coffin-joint or 
foot lameness appeared once more to have gained currency ; and 
as Coleman taught that either contraction of the hoof, or disease 
of the laminse of the foot, was the proximate cause of “ groggi- 
ness,” the real or true cause was not likely to be again brought to 
light unless by some one of Coleman’s tleves, who — not “ pinning 
his faith upon another man’s sleeve” — looked into matters for him- 
self. And such turned out to be the case. The disciple of the 
Professor who did “ look into matters for himself” was Mr. James 
Turner ; and the result of his investigations into the causes of 
“ groggy” lameness was the discovery, afresh, of navicular joint 
disease. Mr. Turner, no more than myself, possessed no other 
knowledge than what he had derived from Professor Coleman’s 
“ Lectures,” or, at all events, was in entire ignorance of what had 
been seen or done in respect to navicularthritis by Moorcroft ; and, 
therefore, Mr. Turner became entitled to all the merits of a dis- 
coverer ; and, wisely, lost no time in making his discovery known 
both to Professor Coleman and Assistant-professor Sewell. This 
communication was made in 1816. No reply was given at the 
time to it by either of the Professors ; but Coleman soon after- 
wards made “ ample acknowledgments” of the discovery publicly 
in his lectures. And this I believe to be a faithful account of the 
history, comprising the discovery and publicity, of NAVICULAR- 
THRITIS. 
Subjoined is a copy of the communication originally made by 
Mr. Turner to Messrs. Coleman and Sewell ; a document which 
has never appeared in print, and which I should not, but through the 
trouble Mr. Turner has kindly taken to search for it amidst heaps 
of other papers, have been able to lay before my readers on the pre- 
sent occasion. Unfortunately, there is no date attached to it : still, 
the fact of copies having been sent to both the Professors at the 
London Veterinary College, in the year 1816, will sufficiently 
attest its age : — 
