054 
PROFESSOR COLEMAN AND THE EDITOR. 
room. There was no comparative anatomy. The horse was the 
only study of the pupil; and he neither wished nor dared to 
extend his researches farther. 
The Professor was remonstrated with on this point, and his 
language was more guarded. He warned his pupils that com¬ 
parative anatomy might dangerously mislead them—that where 
similarity of texture and of structure existed, the student might 
too hastily take it for granted that there would be similarity of 
disease, and similarity of effect in the remedial measures adopted ; 
and that there was often an almost inconceivable difference in 
different animals, in the diseases to which the same organs were 
exposed, and the effect of the same medicines. Had the Pro¬ 
fessor added that he was warning them against the abuse of com¬ 
parative anatomy, and not against the guarded study of it, there 
could have been no objection to this; but not having done that, 
the effect produced was the same on the mind of the pupil and 
the inquiries of the dissecting-room. 
A few years, how'ever, stole on, and the enmity to or the dread 
of comparative anatomy returned, and the language of Mr. 
Coleman was more unguarded and violent than ever; for he said 
in plain language, that, different as was the structure of the 
various organs in animals and in man, and varying as they did 
in the numerous classes of animals, the student might be misled 
by analogy, but never could arrive at any legitimate or useful 
conclusion. The diseases of the different quadrupeds were essen¬ 
tially different. It was impossible to predicate the symptoms, or 
what should be the treatment of one animal from what we knew 
of another ; and comparative anatomy was too apt to lead on to 
comparative physiology, and comparative pathology.” This I 
suppose is the misrepresentation of which the Professor com¬ 
plains ; but these were his identical words. For the truth of this 
I* appeal to any or to every student who heard Professor Cole¬ 
man’s introductory lecture in 1836. 
Having made this triumphant attack upon his opponent, the 
Professor accuses him of having anonymously slandered him. 
* For evident reasons I drop the editorial ice, and speak in my own 
person.—Y. 
