290 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
this branch of industry, they can neither afford the mate¬ 
rials, or the time to learn to use them. 
Furthermore, would it not be judicious (when award • 
ing premiums for in-door articles) to consult the opinion 
of ladies who have been in the habit of manufacturing 
more or less of the same kind of goods; they certainly 
understand better than gentlemen can, the difficulty in 
performing different kinds of work, and the time and ex* 
pense requisite for the completion of the articles. For 
instance, the premium on table linen and sheeting, is 
small, compared with the premiums on flannel cloth, 
stockings, yarn, &c. No one can understand the differ¬ 
ence in the labor required to make a yard of woolen or 
linen cloth, unless they have actually made both. I 
should be glad to see this branch of labor more encoura¬ 
ged; the foreign article is too expensive for common 
use, consequently most families are almost entirely desti¬ 
tute of good substantial linen. A Farmer's Wife. 
Onondaga Co., Aug. 1, 1844. 
THE LATE DR. SAMUEL L. MITCHILL 
Of the city of New- York, and lvis labors in aid of Agri¬ 
culture. —No. 3. 
Our second number contained an examination of Dr. 
Mitchill’s first address delivered before the old Agricul¬ 
tural Society. His second, before the same body, was de¬ 
livered at Albany on the 7th February, 1798. In 17921 
he was a member of the State Legislature from Queens 
county, but in 1798 a representative in the Assembly from: 
the city of New-York. 
In this second address he adverts more particularly,! 
than in his first, to the subject of manures. Therein wej 
shall find that he has anticipated Davy, Liebig, Johnston! 
and other late writers, by pointing out how azote or ni¬ 
trogen may become a vegetable fertilizer. 
“ On the subject of manures (says he) there has been aj 
good deal of valuable experiment and speculation. Mr. 
Kir waffs excellent pamphlet was forwarded to the Soci-| 
ety by a member of the British Board of Agriculture; 
since which I have been favored by Dr. Dickson, late of 
Dublin, with the last volume of the Transactions of the 
Royal Irish Academy, which contains this memoir. On 
perusing it, there appeared to be one memorable defect; 
there was very little written on the azote (or nitrogen) 
of the modern philosophers, or the principle of putrefac¬ 
tion as a fertilizing ingredient in soils, or a nutritive ma¬ 
terial of plants. So considerable an omission appeared to 
me to deserve a supplement; and accordingly I wrote an 
addition to the work, on the deficient article, which I 
have forwarded to the author in Ireland. It is very re¬ 
markable that so obvious and well known a substance as 
this should have escaped the particular notice of agricul¬ 
turists so long.”—Transactions, vol. 1, p. 206. 
After an acknowledgment of the receipt of numerous 
communications from the President of the British Board 
of Agriculture, Dr. Mitcliill again observes, 
“ Finding in such publications as these and others that 
have from time to time come to hand, that one of the 
most operative ingredients in animal and vegetable ma¬ 
nures (azote) was in a great degree overlooked or omit¬ 
ted by European writers, I deemed it worth the ivhile to 
inquire into it a little more particularly myself. In this 
undertaking there has been a development of much new 
and precious information.” 
“ Fortunately, in prosecuting the subject, the important, 
though much neglected science of Chemistry, which in 
my earlier days I had studied with some care, enabled me 
to labor on through discouraging and seemingly insuper¬ 
able difficulties. The composition and qualities of soils 
and manures being only to be understood and explained 
upon chemical principles, there was a necessity of re¬ 
viewing what had been done already, in order to com¬ 
prehend what remained to be done.”—Trans, p. 207. 
By the means of chemistry then, we learn from him, 
that «the analysis of corrupting bodies has been more 
carefully attended to; and of course a more correct idea 
of the nature and qualities of the manures formed from 
these, has been obtained. Among other things it has be¬ 
come manifest how the septon (azote) or principle of pu¬ 
tridity, is evolved or set loose on the earth’s surface.” 
“On tracing the progress of putrid bodies and their un 
wholesome vapors from their origin and duration to their 
decline and extinction, it has been sufficiently ascertain 
ed that by means of the vegetable economy, the substances’ 
whence offensive and noxious steams proceed, are de 
compounded or taken out of circulation and manufactu¬ 
red anew into forms replete with organization and life.” 
“ Thus the subject of manures when well understood, 
explains the occasional epidemic influence of the atmos¬ 
phere, as well as the growth of vegetables and many of 
their peculiar qualities; and these again, when fully com¬ 
prehended, reflect light upon the economy of farming, in 
their use and application; upon the police of cities, in 
preventing their baneful vapors from getting afloat in the 
air; and in (he healing art by enabling its practisers to 
prescribe and direct by sure rules what in a given case 
ought to be done. These new views of this branch of 
science, have shown a more intimate connection than 
ever was before known to exist between meteorology, far¬ 
ming and physic.” —Trans, p. 209. 
Again, it is worthy of notice that this acute observer 
of nature detected the acidity of manures and soils, and 
the means of correcting or neutralizing them, showing 
too, how offensive and deleterious substances may be 
rendered inert and harmless in relation to the health of 
human beings and animals, while at the same lime they 
nourish vegetation. Hear what he said on these subjects, 
as far back as 1798: 
“ The acid nature of most animal manures and their 
exhalations, owing to a junction of the principle of pu¬ 
trefaction with a portion of oxygen, is of itself a most 
interesting discovery. But the inferences from such a 
fact are of a still more extensive and beneficial kind, and 
by showing the use and operation of alkalies, let us know 
how they are useful in combining with the acids inher¬ 
ent in the soil, and wafted through the air in a volatile 
form, and in both cases have a sweetening and neutrali¬ 
zing operation. Hence it may be inferred we are not 
far from possessing a true theory of lime, ashes, and cal¬ 
careous earth, and of solving the problem which has 
puzzled inquirers so long, and which no European wri¬ 
ter appears to have rightly understood.”—Trans, p. 210. 
Thus much from Dr. Mitchill’s second address before 
the old Agricultural Society. In this, he refers to his 
letter “ On Septon,” which is published in the volume 
jof Transactions of the Society (p. 245) and though writ¬ 
ten before his address, it is connected w T ith it on the all 
important subject of manures. It is headed by the author 
in the following words: 
“ On Septon, (Azote) and its compounds, as they ope¬ 
rate on plants as food, and on animals as poison; inten¬ 
ded as a supplement to Mr. Kirwan’s pamphlet on ma¬ 
nures. In a letter to the Rev. Dr. Henry Muhlenberg, 
of Lancaster, Pa., from Mr. Mitchill of New-York, da¬ 
ted October 24th, 1796.” 
We must here premise that Dr. Mitchill was at this pe¬ 
riod, (1798) Professor of Chemistry and Agriculture in 
Columbia College, New-York city; that he had studied 
Chemistry under Dr. Black, a celebrated professor of that 
science in Edinburgh (Scotland,) and who was the dis¬ 
coverer of Carbonic acid gas, which he called fixed air^ 
because he found it fixed or in a solid state in limestone. 
About the time that Dr. Mitchell left Scotland, with the 
honors of the University, (1786) the new chemical doc¬ 
trines and nomenclature of Lavoiser were promulgated, 
and to him we are indebted for the terms oxygen, hydro¬ 
gen, azote, &c., still in use. When the subject of this 
communication was appointed to a Professorship in Co¬ 
lumbia College, although he had an exalted opinion of 
Dr. Black, he adopted the nomenclature of the French 
school as best adapted to convey correct information and 
precise ideas. In the course of his scientific researches 
and investigations, however, he suggested several altera¬ 
tions of the terms introduced by Lavoisier, and Septon 
was employed by him instead of azote. The irrespira- 
ble part of the atmosphere which the French Academi¬ 
cians termed azote, other chemists have named nitrogen, 
as one of the constituents of nitre, and both are used at 
the present day. Nitre or salt-petre, is a product of pu¬ 
trefaction, and the azote it contains, Dr. Mitchill named 
Septon, from a Greek word signifying to putrify. He 
