vf'Peftilenllat'FluUs. 3^ 



MO-N Poison and Specific Poison; the one being pro- 

 duced hy the corruption of dead bodks, the other afibrded by 

 fecrdmn going on in living ones. 



The decifive method of gaining information concerning 

 ihis Common Poison (venenum univerfale) muft necef- 

 farily be an examination of every individual procefs going on 

 during the compUcated work of animal and vegetable difor- 

 ganizttion. For this purpofe Dr, Mitchill had planned a 

 fet of experiments. But, before undertaking thefe, he de- 

 termined to watch the operation of the poifon already pro- 

 duced, be it what it might, and obferve in what manner it 

 wrought the dcflrudlion of life. And, for this purpofe, he 

 remahied in the city until the ficknefs was abating ; havmg 

 omitted no opportunity to witncfs and colleft fa6ls as they 

 occurred in the midft of pellilence .and death. 



Much obfervation, and in circumftances where the per- 

 fons beft calculated to make refearches in fcience rarely 

 choofe to expofe themfelves, had led Dr. Mitchill to believe 

 that the hiftory of azote, both in living and dead bodies, 

 would throw a world of light upon this department of phy- 

 fics. Accordingly he went to Plandome, his country refi- 

 dence on Long Ifland, and became convinced, by experi- 

 ments made on the air extricated in the abdomen of putre- 

 fying animals, that it was not merely carbonic acid gas, but 

 confiftcd alfo of a large quantity of azotic air. It is remark- 

 able, that, to avoid the obloquy too often levelled at experi- 

 ments, he was obliged to condud his procelTes with all pof- 



fiUle fecrecy. 



But azotic air alone feemed to poffefs too little aftivity to 

 excite the horrid fymptoms which conllituted and charac- 

 terifed the diftemper he had fo lately witneflcd. Yet he 

 knew, and there was no need of any new experiment to prove 

 it, that this very azote did not always evaporate with caloric 

 ii) the form of air ; but in higher degrees of heat than that 

 uf 06tober, when his experiments were made, this acidifabh 

 bajis frequently conn?aed itfelf with oxygen, and conftituted 

 P 4 --^ very 



