Extract of a Letter from Dr. Mitchill. 327 



5. The fame acid producl:, or fome modification of it, 

 which, when volatilifed and fpread through the atmofphcre, 

 produces our e/zdemic fevers (for our annual dilienipcrs aie 

 not epidemics), of the various grades from intermittent to 

 yellow and pejlilential, does, when engendered in the iutef- 

 -tinal canal, ftir up dyfentery audits concomitant /ympfoms. 



6. The excellency of alkaline remedies, efpecially the 

 neutral falts, in which foda is combined with a weak acid, 

 -evinces the exiftcnce of an inflaming and corroding iburnefs, 

 which being overcome either bv alkalies per os or per anum, 

 gives the patient great and lpeedy relief. 



7. The application of the fame mode of reafoning to the 

 human mouth, which has been employed with lefpeet to the 

 ftomach and bowels, will explain the generation and noxious 

 effect of ajhnilar acid among the teeth and around the gums, 

 of their corrofion and deftruciion by it, and of the utility and 

 importance of alkalies as dentifrices and fweeteners of the 

 mouth. 



8. An explanation is, on the fame principles, given to the 

 manner in which human garments grow foul and pejlilential, 

 the excretions lodged in them degenerating to acidity by ex* 

 fofure to the air, and thus Incoming fomites of infeElion. 

 This infection never pofleffing any fpecific quality, but merely 

 being the acid offspring of common putrefaction. And on 

 this depends the theory of alkalies y and leys and foaps, in 

 deftroying infection if prefent, or in preventing its formation, 

 and their wholefome and purifying power in wafliing, fcour- 

 ing, and houfekeeping. 



9. Experiments lately made in the New-York, hofpital 

 have proved to me that foul and ill-conditioned ulcers, efpe- 

 cially of the fphylitic kind, contain an acid fo confiderable 

 as in three or four hours to turn litmus-paper red. I have 

 found alkaline remedies of admirable ufe in fuch furgical cafes 

 locally applied. We are thus poffeffed of a clue to explain 

 much of the nature of corroding malignant and infeclious 

 ulceration; of the manner of Jlopping it by alkalies ; and of 

 the explanation of heclic fever from an abforption of this 

 acid virus. 



^o. It is rendered plain of what materials cities ought to 

 U u a be 



