4:30 :mr. c. clark in reply to mr. ma^er. 
the Lancety some ten years ago, respecting Professor Coleman’s 
patents and peculiar theories. The style of this challenge might 
well excuse my total neglect of it; for who, Mr. Editor, ever 
heard of a meeting composed of blanks, held at a blank place, on 
a blank day, wdiich deserved any serious notice or attention. 
However, be they who they may, they shall not experience a 
blank reception, especially as I have, at least, one palpable anta¬ 
gonist in the person of a young practitioner, who “ signs on be¬ 
half of this blank meeting,” viz. Mr. Thomas Walton Mayer, 
of Newcastle-under-Line ; and whether this gentleman does, in¬ 
deed, represent a phalanx of midland veterinarians, or is, in very 
truth, the all-combined mover, seconder, president, and secretary 
of the meeting, is a matter of some doubt, though of no conse¬ 
quence either to me or to the question at issue. Appearances 
rather incline me to the latter opinion, since there are several in¬ 
consistencies in his short but ambiguous communication, which 
could hardly have occurred under the direction of maturer judg¬ 
ments. 
I must beg the reader to re-peruse it carefully, when it will be 
observed, that, besides the incongruity above adverted to, he has 
the simplicity to require me to defend assertions made ten years 
ago by a reference to present opinions, changed, as he declares 
them to be, from what they then were. In fact, he most forci¬ 
bly proves the truth of my remarks on Mr. Coleman’s opinions, 
by broadly asserting that they (his doctrines) are now ‘‘ altered 
and modified considerably;” and, having thus nonsuited himself 
at starting, there appears little left for me to do. Yes; he dis¬ 
tinctly accuses the Professor of having veered round, and changed 
the doctrines which he had pertinaciously promulgated for thirty 
years before. In so doing, he admits the severest censure upon 
that w'hich it was my object to reprobate, and by thus tardily 
taking up the gauntlet which was offered, and accompanying it 
with such a statement, he has given the best possible proof that 
I was right at the time. 
The Professor can know nothing of this indiscreet attack that 
is made upon us both. Well may he say, “Save me from my 
friends.” An uninitiated reader would conclude that the object 
of Mr. Mayer and his blank colleagues was to call up a storm 
around the Professor, and elicit an exposure that should cover 
him with confusion. 
They can be no sincere friends of his who thus disturb the 
subject. 
They have gone beyond me, who merely denounced certain 
theories, backed by patents, which the Professor had held 
and cherished all his previous life ;—they now declare that he 
