448 
OBSERVATIONS ON LIEUT. JAMES’S BOOK. 
It may, perhaps, be thought by some who have read this book, 
that the author atones for the wounds he endeavours to inflict on 
the body of the profession by the honours he wishes to be 
showered on its head. He recommends, forsooth, a mark of 
royal approbation to be paid to Professor Coleman. How very 
natural ! I would recommend him to petition his Majesty on 
the subject; his patron, the General, would surely present it. 
The petition, if sincere, should run thus : “ Whereas Professor 
Coleman has kindly recommended my blister ointment to be 
used in the army, thereby not only increasing its sale, but ena- 
bling me to make use of his name greatly to my advantage and 
emolument, I thereby, bound alike by honour and gratitude, 
most humbly solicit, &c. &c. &c.” 
But to drop this irony; let us see what it is that Mr. Coleman 
says of the ointment in question, and whether it justifies the 
very free use the author makes of his name. Lieut. James 
recommends horses to be turned loose in a box, and not tied up 
after the application of the blister; and, after advising horses to 
be worked during the action of the blister in the majority of 
cases, he says, page 52, “ I am supported in my theory and 
practice by Professor Coleman (and it will be admitted I cannot 
have higher authority).” 
Now, in Professor Coleman’s report to the Horse Guards, he 
says, “ that he has tried the blister, and found it milder and 
more effectual than that usually sold by druggists, which fre- 
quently creates excessive irritation, &c.” He says not one word 
about Lieut. James’s theory or practice ; he neither recommends 
that horses should be worked during the operation of the blister, 
nor turned loose in a box ; and yet it is on the narrow foundation 
of this meagre statement that Lieut. James has the conscience to 
build his unblushing assertion. The veterinary profession would 
hail with pleasure any honour that might be bestowed on the 
Professor as their head, because they are assured that his merits 
rest on a firmer foundation than that of having bestowed a few 
words of qualified approbation on an empirical medicine ; and it 
may be added, that the well-earned reputation of a man of 
science needs not the equivocal praise of the author of such a 
book as this. 
But, perhaps, after saying so much, it might be expected that 
I should have something to add on the ointment in question ; 
but such is not the case. I have nothing to say in favour of 
the blister — I have nothing to say against it ; and simply for 
this reason, that I have never tried it. And I have not tried it, 
because I possess in my own dispensary blisters applicable for 
every purpose, both in a liquid and solid form; and as I can 
