26 
more on thefe fubjeéts may be feen, in the 
work publithed quarterly m New-York, 
under the title of the ‘* Medical Repo- 
fiery.” 
(Note by the Editor.) 
The pamphlet accompanying our corre- 
fpondent’s letter, is entitled, ‘* The Cafe of the 
Manufadturers of Soap and Candles in the City of 
New-York, Stated and Examined,” &c. printed 
at New-York in 1797. ; 
The hiftory of the affair being fated in the 
preceding letter, all that is neceffary to be 
feleGed for the information of cur readers, 
confiits of certain fa€ts contained in the affi- 
dayits, and the reafoning upon thofe fats by 
Profeffor MircuiLv. 
Tt appears from the evidence of a number 
of tallow-chandlers and foap-boilers, at New 
York, that during the heighth of the yellow- 
fever in that city, in the year 1795, while 
great numbers were dying of the difeafe in 
their immediate neighbourhood, themfelves, 
their families and workmen, enjoyed an uni- 
form ftate of good health; and that, in the 
few inftances occurring among them of in- 
fectien from vifiting their neighbours, or 
aflifting at their funerals, they not only ter- 
Minated favourably, but appeared radically 
and fpeedily counteraéted, on return of the 
perfon infected to his ufual work. : 
The origin of the yellow-fever, is attri- 
buted, by Dr. Mircuitt, tothe putrefac- 
tion or fpontaneous decompofition of fuch 
fubfances as contain much azote (according 
to Dr. Mircarir’s Nomenclature fepron) 
particularly the cruciform vegetabies and the 
mufcular parts of animals; the azote, by the 
abforption of oxygen, is converted into ni- - 
trous acid gas (feptic acid), which is fuppofed 
to be the efficient primary caufe of infectious 
fever. On this theory, therefore, Dr. 
Mircuite argues, that the manufacture of 
foap, far from being’ a procefs injurious to 
health, is a very falubrious bufineis, as the 
lime and alkaline ley made ufe of, attracts 
and neutralizes the contagious miafms, form- 
ing with them nitrate of potafh, of foda, and 
of lime. . 
This theory is eflentially oppofite te Dr. 
CARMICHAEL SmMITH’s, who has lately in- 
troduced into the navy, the prattice of fumi- 
gating with nitrous gas, the hold and lower 
decks of men of war, for the purpofe of de- 
Stroying infeGtion. Which ef thefe two fyf- 
tems is true, or whether either of them is, 
muft be fubmitted to the. decifion of future 
experiments. — 
7 ee SS eee 
For the Meathly Magazine. 
JOURNEY from NEW-YORK io PHILA- 
" DELPHIA and the BRANDYWINE, i” 
the STATE of PENSYLVANIA. . 
(Continued from page 436.) 
FHE Pennfylvanians, the quakers 
4 efpecially, appear in their politics 
to be determined republicans; yet {ome 
oi them often expre{s eftcem for their for- 
Tour in North America. 
mer monarch—and inquire refpe€ting his 
habits of life and domeftic welfare. Of 
our eminent patriots, and illuftrious lite- 
rary charaéters, as well thole of the paf 
as of the prefent times, they {peak with 
the fame warmth as a native Briton. 
In fa&t, the names of Shakefpeare, and 
Miiten, Pepe, Dryden, and Thomfon, 
Hampden, Sidney, and Fox, are as fa- 
miliar among the well-educated Ame- 
ricans, as thole of their own patriotic and 
erudite countrymen — Franklin, Jeffer- 
fon, Rufh, or Rittenhoufe. Undoubtedly, 
there exifts a degree of acutenels, manly 
dignity, and firength of underftanding, 
among the generality of Americans, which 
are rarely to be met with in any part of 
Europe, Switzerland and Scotland, per- 
haps, excepted. The very farmers are in the 
practice of buying ufetul books, on vifit- 
ing the chief towns of their refpective 
ftates. They converfe fenfibly on the va- 
rious interefiing topics connetted with 
geography, hiftory, politics-and agricui- 
ture. This general diffulion of know- 
ledge is improved by their admirable 
eftablifhment of parochial free grammar- 
{chools; and confirmed by the rapid 
ftrides made in commerce, arts, and agri- 
culture, fince the revolution. © 
The day after my arrival in Philadel- 
phia, I cagerly went to the ftate-houle, 
where congrefs was then affembled. I there 
had the fatisfaction to behold the free re- 
prefentatives of a free and uncorrupted 
people! at once decorous and fedate in 
their deportment, and manly and digni- 
fied in their language, they feemed actu- 
ated by a confcious fenfe of their own in- 
dependence, and of the high truft repofed 
in them. It was impoffible to regard 
fuch an afflemblage of virtuous and ex- 
alted men, without the mingled emotions 
of awe and refpect! Several were pointed 
out to me as diftinguifhed orators, among 
whom, the eloguent MADISON princi< 
pally attracted my attention; his thought- 
ful brow indicated anxiety and deep re- 
fieStion ; a fhade of fallow tinged his com- 
plexion (the hue natural to moft fouthery 
people), whilf the firmnefs and honefty 
of a republican beamed in his expreflive 
countenance. But the far-famed charac- 
ter whom I was moft anxious to fee, I 
could not obtain a glimpfe of—I mean 
the virtuous WASHINGTON. I now fen- 
fibly regret leaving Columbia without 
feeing and converfing with that extraor- 
dinary man! On the day previous to my 
departure from Philadelphia, dining with 
3 party of friends, the venerable miftrets 
of the family, (a Mrs. PLEASANT), 
| aiked 
