18 «= THE NEW ZEALAND FAMILY HERB DOCTOR. 
Calverly, whose father was an agent of the doctor’s for 
Wakefield, in Yorkshire, tells us that he accompanied his 
father in treating his cholera patients, and that, if called 
before the last stage, they never lost a case. They had one 
medicine— Dr. Coffin’s Anti-cholera Powder (see lst of com- 
pounds)—and heat applied externally. Coffin had a hard 
fight with the regulars, who dubbed him a quack, but as he 
was a powerful and eloquent speaker on the platform, to which 
he invited them, they found him too many for them, and left 
him alone. The good work begun by him was taken up by 
others, who in their turn met the opposition and refuted the 
false accusations of bigoted opponents.. Dr. John Skelton 
(not skeleton) as some have put it with Coffin’s name, and 
said, ‘‘ What a terrible system, beginning with a coffin and 
ending with a skeleton!” But it is not so, as it did not 
begin nor end with these gentlemen. Ooffin certainly kept 
many out of their coffins for a time, and Skelton helped him 
in the same good work. Many others are now following them, 
the effect of their labour being seen in the medical liberalism 
of the present time. 
Before closing this brief sketch of medical history 1 trust 
the reader will not consider it out of place to give a few facts 
regarding medical botany in New Zealand, and the honour we 
had in being its first public exponent. Inthe early days of the 
goldfields, there was an old gentleman named Westwood 
who gave himself out as an herbalist. His tent or canvas 
store could be seen and will be remembered by some who 
visited Wetherstones, Tuapeka, the Dunstan, and other 
localities. In the early days we did not then think of 
medicine, so never took any care to look at his stock; 
but we were told by a gentleman in Dunedin that 
one day he was amongst a crowd at the shop of West- 
wood, who was descanting on the power and potency of 
herbal medicine, and maledicting mineral drugs, when a 
knowing digger lifted up a piece of bluestone from Westwood’s 
stall, and asked him, amid the laughter of the crowd, what 
kind of herb was that. According to the gentleman that 
