( 139 ) 



No. XVJ. 



Obfervations on the Soda, Magne/ia, and Lime, contained 

 in the Water of the Ocean ; Jhevinng that they operate 

 advantageoi/JIy there by neutralizing Acids, and among 

 others the Septic Acid, and that Sea- Water may be ren- 

 dered Jit for waJJjing Clothes ivithout the Aid of Soap. 

 i?y Samuel L, Mitchill, ofNevj-Tork. 



Read juiylk/r ANY attempts have been made to render 

 i8, i82o-_[_Y_l^ the water cf the ocean tit for the purpofes 

 oi drinking and cooking, and ibme ot thefe have been at- 

 tended with flatterhig prolpetls of utihty. By a cheap 

 and eafy procefs, water tolerably frefh may be diflilled 

 from common falt-water, fo as to help materially in a cafe 

 of fcarcity or want, on board a fhlp of good equipment. 

 The names of Hales, Lind and Irvine, are remembered 

 to their honour, for their exertions in this work. 



To furnifli needy men with the means of eating and 

 drinking, is certainly a noble difcovery. But there is 

 another operation fcarcely lefs necefiary to the prelcrva- 

 tion of health than eating and drinking, and that is 

 isDajhing as applied to the human body, and more par- 

 ticularly to the clothing which it befouls. In a commu- 

 nication to profeflbr Duncan, which has been publifhed 

 in the Edinburgh Annals of Medicine for 1799, and ia 

 the third volume of the New-York Medical Repofitoiy, 

 I have endeavoured to ftate the fa<fi3 in detail concerning 

 the matters fecretcd from the fkin and wiped off by the 

 clothes, and to fliew liov/ fome of thefe became un- 

 wholefome, or infectious and peftilential, as they grew 

 nafty. It was there ftated \!tici.\.foaps and alkalies would 

 render foul clothing clean, and both prevent and de- 

 flroy animal poifon if it was engendering there. And 



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