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XV. J^ttei- from Dr. Mitchill, of New-Yorky Represen- 

 tative in Congress, &c. to Benjamin Moselv, M. D. 

 &c. contuining sovie interesting Particulars in the History 

 ef Muriate of Soda *. 



New- York, ist July, 1804. 



J. HRRE has been an opinion propagated of late, that sea- 

 salt taken with food is injurious to animal life. It is pre- 

 tended that when used as an article of diet it acts merely as a 

 stimulus, without affording any nourishment. A fossil and 

 unnatural substance received into the stomach must, it is as- 

 serted, be productive of debility and disease. The employ- 

 ment of it has been ascribed to caprice, and scurvy and 

 scrophula are alleged to be the consequences of an habitual 

 indulgence in it. 



There is strong reason to doubt the correctness of this 

 doctrine. The universal and instinctive appetite of man for 

 salt seems rather to arise from a constitutional want ; and 

 the supplying of this want, in a moderate degree, appears to 

 be conducive to his well-being. Instead of receiving salt 

 into the stomach through mere whim, mankind are go- 

 verned, in mingling it with their food, by a steadv and 

 wholesome principle. But lest some ambiguity should beset 

 this inquiry if the human species were alone attended to, it 

 will be easy to adduce arguments from the history of brute 

 animals in favour of the friendly operation of salt upon 

 their living bodies. And if these creatures, who eat it 

 through instinct, and not by caprice, are benefited by it, 

 there will be thence derived a close analogy to evince its 

 wholesome operation upon man. 



Among nations who live near the ocean, where common 

 salt is plentiful, and where the atmosphere is charged with 

 its briny particles, much is indeed known of it as an article 

 of manufacture. By them its history, as a subject of com- 

 merce, is well understood. So likewise the method of 

 taxing it, for the purpose of raising revenue, has been pur- 

 sued to a great length ; and chemists have laboured to de- 

 compose it economically by a variety of torturing processes. 



But there are some facts conccrnmg the muriate of soda 

 which are afforded only by countries that are situated far 

 from the ocean, and containing very few springs, mines, or 

 mountains of salt. Where this material does not abound in 

 the earth or the waters, and where, of course, the neigh- 



• Communicated by the Author, 



Vol. 20, No. 78, iVof. 1804. G bouring 



