Sir, – Dr Barry O'Meara, Napoleon's physician and friend, was well qualified to be a surgeon in the Royal Navy, having received more than "some elementary medical training" when he studied at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Trinity College Dublin and St Bartholomew's Hospital, London (Denis Fahey, "An Irishman's Diary", September 21st).
O’Meara’s first choice of career had been the British army, but he was cashiered after being court-martialled for participating in a duel, though this proved no handicap to becoming a naval officer.
After his dismissal from St Helena, he insisted to the Admiralty that Napoleon was dying and should be brought to England for treatment. He refused to be silenced and was again cashiered, losing his pension and being struck off the medical register. Undaunted, he set up practice as a dentist, displaying Napoleon’s wisdom tooth, which he had extracted, in his window.
His fund of true stories made him a renowned after-dinner speaker. – Yours, etc,
Dr JOHN DOHERTY,
Gaoth Dobhair,
Co Dhún na nGall.