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XV. Some Experiments on Subjlances re ft fling 
Putrefaction ; by John Pringle M. D. 
F. R. S. 
Read] une 28, 1750.^ ■ AHO an Inquiry into the Man- 
btrt pnnted 'with Ad- ■ , i, /. r 1 j 
ditions. I ner now Bodies are refolved 
by Putrefadion, with the 
means of accelerating or preventing that Procefs, 
has been reckoned not only curious, but ufeful ( a) y 
yet we find it little profecuted in an experimental 
way : Nor is it to be wonder'd at, confidering how 
offenfive fuch Operations are : Wherefore, as I have 
been led to make fome Experiments and Remarks 
on this Subjed, from the Accident of having had 
an uncommon Number of putrid Diftempers under 
my Care in the Hofpitals of the Army, I fhall ven- 
ture to lay before the Society what I have found 
fomewhat different from the common Opinion, as 
well as fome Fads, which, as far as I know, have 
not been mention’d before. 
1. Finding it a received Notion, that Bodies by 
Putrefadion became highly alcalinc, I made the fol- 
lowing Experiments, to inquire how far this was 
true in Fad. 
The 
(a) Lord Bacon calls, u the inducing or accelerating Purrtfadion 
‘ f a Subjed of very univerfal Inquiry and fays, {£ that it is of ex- 
“ cellenc Ufe to inquire into the means of preventing or flaying 
“ Putrefadion ,• which makes a great Part of Pbyfick and Surgery ” 
See Nat. Hijt. Cent. IV. 
