J 34 0« Dr. Miichlll's Theory 



diftinft from the other ; whereas in the latter cafe the fepton 

 and oxygene are chemically blended with each other, bafc 

 with bafe. The reafon of their readinefs to unite during the 

 putrefartive procefs now became evident. The bafes of the 

 two airs rulhed into union before they had attradled caloric 

 enough to turn them to fimple gafes, and give them the re-? 

 pellency incidental to that condition. 



The venomous and deadly qualities of nitrous acid had 

 been afccrtained by Eaglefield Smith in his experiments 

 upon fmall animals inoculated with it. 



A cafe occurred during Dr. Mitchill's attendance as one 

 of the phyficians of the New- York Hofpital, whaxc fever 

 appeared to have been brought upon a patient by the nitric 

 acid ablorbed from the decompofition of a large quantity of 

 red precipitate with which an ulcerated leg had long been 

 drefTed. 



Several inftances had come to his knowledge, of fevere dif- 

 order in the alimentary canal, terminating in dyfcrjtery, from 

 an accidental drinking of diluted aquafortis. 



It immediatelv ftruck him, that privies and colleftions of 

 human ordure had been long noted for containing feptic 

 (nitric) acid. The effluvia of privies had in feveral inftances 

 been known to excite dangerous fickncfs. Many of the arti- 

 cles of diet contained fepton; and oxygene, in fome form, 

 always e.Niftcd in the alimentary canal. As the contents of 

 the ftomach and inteflines were inanimate, it was exceed- 

 inely probable that, in certain cafes of indigefiion and cof- 

 tivenefs, feptic acid might be formed in the cavities of thefe 

 abdominal vifcera ; and that irritation and inverfion of the 

 motions of the ftomach, in fome forms oi ydloiu fcjer, as 

 well as fpafms of the colon, griping pains and tenefmus in 

 fome of the cafes of dyfcntcry, proceeded from the 



SAME EXCITING CAUSE. 



By an induftion of fuels from the operation of neutral 

 falts in thefe kinds of didempers, it appeared, that the moll 

 (cfecacioiis and (alutary were thofc which are capable of de- 

 compofition 



