ON THE USE OF THE PULVIS ANTIMONIALIS. 215 
I recollect an eminent physician. Dr. Parkinson, more than 
twenty years ago, giving the same opinion upon this useless pre- 
paration, and at that time he invariably prescribed the Antimo- 
nium Tartarizatum in all cases requiring the use of an antimonial. 
His success in practice was no doubt increased by his using an 
efficient preparation, while other practitioners were deceiving 
themselves in administering one now' happily exploded in human 
pharmacy. That it is equally useless in veterinary practice care- 
ful observation will confirm ; and it is probable that, on reading 
over Mr. Rolfe’s letter, your particular attention was not called 
to this preparation prescribed by him ; and it is for the sake of 
himself and others, and that so high an authority as yourself should 
not be suffered to remain in apparent approval of its use without 
giving you an opportunity to explain, that I venture to call your 
attention to the subject. 
I am, Sir, &c. 
[This letter would have been much earlier noticed had it not 
been unfortunately mislaid ; for I had not forgotten it, and 
wanted to say a word or two about the “ pulvis antimonialis” 
being omitted by my friend Mr. Morton, in his excellent Ma- 
nual of Veterinary Pharmacy. 
When i came to the metropolis, thirty years ago, the anti- 
monial and James’s powder w'ere in considerable repute among 
the pi actitioners of human medicine. They were supposed to 
be valuable sudorifics, and were employed under various febrile 
diseases. 
The veterinary practitioner seldom, perhaps, employed the 
James’s powder, on account of its cost; but several with whom 
I w ; as then acquainted occasionally had recourse to the Anti- 
monial powder. With Mr. Blaine, whose contributions to the 
advancement of veterinary science can never be too highly ap- 
preciated, it was a favourite. Mr. Bloxam, Veterinary Surgeon 
to the 1st Life Guards, — an admirable scholar, as w'ell as an ex- 
cellent practitioner, — used to trust to it alone in the treatment 
of epidemic catarrh in the horse, and in every disease in which 
it seemed expedient to produce a decidedly diaphoretic effect; 
and, most certainly, he was very successful in his treatment of 
these cases. 
Mr. Blaine, however, before he retired from practice, began 
to dislike the frequent uncertainty in the effect of this medi- 
cine, which he was compelled to witness, and he gradually 
abandoned its use, and had recourse to the emetic tartar in 
combination with the nitrate of potash, which he had always 
