ee 
gees 
“se 
5 
r16 Comparative State of Literature in the paft and prefent Times. [Feb, 
guides and companions completely bewil- 
dered and loft. 
It is for the ladies te bring the wan- 
derers back and put. them in the right 
courfe again. But in doing this, there 
muft not be any airs of triumph on the 
part of the fair fex. The men have whif- 
pered already that the economical world 
is divided into two parties, the alkaline 
and the «cid. To the former belong al- 
moft all the Jadies; to the latter, with 
few exceptions, the gentlemen. 
controverly it is eafy to tell which will 
eventually prevail. 
As long as the beanty of the ladics 
fall pleafé the eye, or their grace delight 
the fancy, fo long fhall the alkalefcency 
of their caufe tend to compofe the world, 
by tempering the tartnefs and neutraliz- 
ang the acidity which is conftantly ifluing 
from the other party. Whenever this dil- 
pute is properly fettled, I expect the 
phrafes ‘¢my lovely, or my pretty al- 
kali,’ will become terms of endearment 
in the mouths of the gentlemen. 
In effeQting this falutary reform, every 
woman in the fea-port towns of the 
RJnited States fhould engage, they thould 
perfuade their hufbands, fathers, fons, 
and brethers,.that the method of fecuring 
houfes from peftilence is known already, ~ 
and has been long practifed within doors. 
ZT hope it is not impoffible to convince 
them that the means of exterminating in- 
‘¥e&tion on one fide of a wall will not fail 
to doitonthe other; and that the lime 
and alkalis which deitroy it in the par- 
lour and kitchen, will as furely deftroy it 
in the yard and the frreet. 
Tel! them how nature has guarded the 
helplefs unhatched progeny of birds from 
the operation of peftilential vapours by 
calcareous fhells; and that fome of the 
eggs are white wafhed like your rooms, 
and others {potted like your paper hang- 
ngs. Inform them that fuch teltaceous 
creatures as have httle or no power of 
moving themflves irom place to place, 
and are doomed to lie or crawl on the 
earth’s furface, either beneath the water 
or above them, are guarded againtt pefti- 
Jential fluids by calcareous coats ef mail ; 
and that, fecure under cover of his lime- 
built-houfe, the fnail can inhabit the 
‘fickly marfh, and the oyfter thrive amidft 
‘the a Pity of mud. Bid them obferve 
nae ik 
e your fanded floors, extenfive 
tracks of country are beftrewed with lime; 
or like your chamber-walls, whitewathed 
“vith chalk: the people who dwell there 
generally efcape the ravages of peftilence. 
And shew them on the snap, where Ber- 
Boston, 2 tgp eee * 
Pano Pr PORE 
~ 

In this- 
muda and Barbadoes, the fhires of Eng- 
Jand, and the departments of France, 
the Appenines and the Alps, afford am- 
ple tettimony of the faét. 
It is doubtlefs on account of the won- 
ders done in thefe ways, by women in 
houfe-keeping, as well as on account of 
their beauty, that the charge of witch- 
craft has been fixed on the fex. A witch 
was therefore equipped with a byoem, and 
poileiied the power of allaying tempefts, 
by throwing. fand into the air. What 
they effected by natural means, has been 
afcribed-by fuperititious men to magic. 
Go on with your witchcraft, and initiate 
men as faft as you can into its myfteries. 
Dire& them in the right way of proceed- 
ing, and train and tutor them with al] 
Kindnefs and patience; but be fure you 
make them learn; and if you cannot be- 
witch them with reafon and truth of the. 
thing, there is no other alternative thay 
to beat it into them with the broomftick. 
But I fear you will think me deferving of 
that difcipline mylelf it I add any more 
tc this long letter ; I therefore end it, by 
affiring you, that I am affectionately 
your's, SAML. L. MITCHILL. 
New-York, Nov. 10, 1797. 
[ The fecond Letter in cur next.} 
a CE 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazixe. 
SIR, 
ITERATURE is either lefs cuilti- 
4 vated, or lefs valued in thefe days 
than it was in thofe of our anceffors, for 
certainly learning does not mow receive 
the honours it thez did. That it is le& 
cultivated, cannot, I think, with any 
truth be afferted, becaufe the prefent is 
denominated a learned age. It muft be 
the univerfality then, -with which it is 
diffuled through fociety, that renders it 
lefs valuable: as articles grow cheap, 
not in proportion to their iniignificancy, 
but their abundance. Great talents, in- 
deed, in any condition of civilized fociety 
mutt inevitably confer a certain degree of 
power: inafmuch as they render their 
poffeffors either ufeful, or formidable: 
but fearcely any literary attainments 
would, I apprehend, raife a writer in 
thefe days, to the fame degree of emi- 
nence and requeft, as Petrarch, Erafmus, 
and Politiano enjoyed, in their refpe&tive 
times. We have now amongit us many 
{cholars of great erudition*: men of 
diftinguifhed abilities: yet I much quei- 




* Parr, Wakefield, Profeflors Porfon, 
and White, &c. &c. 
tion, 
