ChaP; II.] Chemical IVu'hsophf/, } 29 



same time the professor proposed an alteration in 

 the nomenclature, agreeing with his new doctrine, 

 and illustrative of its princij)les. Considering azafe 

 as having an important ag(^ii(^y in the ])rocess of 

 putrefactlony he proposed to introduce the word 

 septan'^ instead of azot.e^ and hence denominated 

 the deleterious compounds above mentioned the 

 oxyd of septan, and septic acid. The various facts 

 and reasonings adduced by the professor in support 

 of these opinions, and the extensive application of 

 which he considers them as susceptible, ha\e been 

 so generally made known and discussed, both in 

 Europe and America, as to preclude the necessity 

 of giving further details. 



In 1797 Di'. Mitchill, with a view to terminate 

 the controversy between the pldogistians and their 

 opponents, proposed to expunge hydrogen from 

 the nomenclature, and to introduce phlogiston ■\ in 

 its place. He suggested, that giving this old and 

 popular name to a known and defmite substance, 

 instead of using it in its former vague manner, and 

 ascribing to this substance those qualities which 

 had been formerly ascribed to a nonentity, would 

 go far toward reconciling many points of ditferencc 

 between the advocates of the old and the new sys- 

 tems, and would throw much light on many che- 

 mical phenomena. The same gentleman soon 

 afterwards proposed to discard the term caloriijiie, 



* This word is derived from (rY^Tr:'}, puircfuc^o: hence o-r^rro;, 

 piitrcdus, and to crrprrov, ixhat peculiarly disposes bodies to rot. 

 Medical Repository, vol. ii> p. 50. 



t Derived from j>\oyi^cu,.injlammo: hence to i^^Xoyisrov, the 

 principle of inflammabilitj/, or tliat which, in any subbtancc, burns 

 txith blaze, 



Vol, I. K. 



