396 
OBITUARY-MR. JOHN FIELD. 
until the Prince of Wales was appointed Regent, wlien many 
changes taking place in the royal establishment, he retired. 
He then confined himself to the duties of his profession, as ve¬ 
terinary surgeon to the 2d Life Guards, and as a private practi¬ 
tioner in the metropolis ; and such was his diligence, his devoted¬ 
ness to his profession, and his recklessness of labour and fatigue, 
that he was enabled to combine, satisfactorily to his commanding 
officer and the public, the seemingly incompatible duties of both 
situations. He died on the 19th of April in the present year, in 
the sixty-fifth year of his age. 
We had not any very intimate personal acquaintance with Mr. 
Field. Indeed, it was the observation, and a little too well 
founded, that he held himself, in a manner, aloof from his vete¬ 
rinary brethren; but there was no pride or affectation in this : 
they were the natural retired habits of the man ; and they who 
knew him best could vouch, that he had a warm heart and 
generous spirit. 
The same explanation may be given of the apparent mystery 
in which a portion of his professional conduct was sometimes 
shrouded. There were few men actuated by such undeviating: 
rectitude of conduct, and independence of spirit, as Mr. Field. 
He was in the habit of promptly making up his opinion on the 
various cases that came before him, and then his practice was 
straightforward and to the point; and, conscious of this, he was 
less anxious to consult the opinion, or conciliate the good-will of 
others. His habits, even in his own family, were retired; and 
therefore it is not to be wondered if, to his professional brethren, 
too often actuated by jealousy or ill-will, he appeared to be un¬ 
communicative and reserved. 
The veterinary profession is much indebted to Mr. Field. 
They owe to him the greater part of their knowledge of the dis¬ 
eases of the liver generally, and particularly of that slow bleed¬ 
ing from its peritoneal coat which destroys so many horses. The 
knowledge of the distinction between pleurisy and pneumonia we 
owe entirely to Mr. Field ; and there are few facts so important 
to the practitioner. While every disease of the chest w'as con¬ 
founded with and called inflammation of the lungs, and the 
existence of pure inflammation of their pleuritic covering was 
stoutly denied, Mr. Field gave us a graphic description of 
this disease, which could not be mistaken; and while he proved 
beyond denial the difference in the symptoms of the two diseases, 
he led us to the best mode of treatment of both. 
Of the navicular disease, Mr. Field appears to have had a cor¬ 
rect knowledge many a year before it was recognized, or even 
mentioned, among veterinarians. Mr. Morecroft, in a paper pub- 
