Portland gazette and Maine advertiser. (Portland, Me.) 1805-1818, 1806-09-22

ings,arrange thefe facts, claAify them,
generalize and interpret them, then
we may be faid to thcorize that is
to deduce conclufons or differences,
which may ferve as principles Of fur
TIER reatoning maxins of conduit
or ultimate procefes of intellect.
This is the philofophy of nature |;
this is the mode of proceeding which
the luxurious Bacon, EoYLE, and
NEWTON, taught and theories
formed in this way in the
flow, cautious, & af9feriori mode Of
proceeding, are among the mott ufe-
iul and digni6ed efforts of the hu-
man mind.
However ufeful and valuable the
medical works Of the ancients are al
lowed 70 be on many accounts, the
the reader will recollect that the
greater part of the 10Th century had
pailed away before men were direct
ed in the true path Of Philosophical
attainment ; and that part of the
nth had elapfed before the circuIa-
ton Of the blood was difcovered 70
that Previouny 10 the PRONUNCIATION
Of natural philofopby by Bacon, and
the luminous difcovery Of HARVEY,
our venerable anceltors were Obliged
to grope in the dark, and folace their
minds with conjecture, and a byiori
reasoning. This is bgpotbsGs, fpe-
cies of mere guefs work differing as
much from rationaliheory, grounded
u,1on facts, and confirmed by expe-
riel1ce, as the inoongruous Arabian
tales 10 from the fold logic Of BEc-
CARA on crimes and puifhments.
"It is granted (fays the Rev. DIR.
Watts) that the anthems had many
wife aud great men among them (;
and fome Of their writings which
time hath delivered down to US, are
truly valuable. But thofe writers liv-
&c rather in the infaut Fate Of the
world and the philosophers, as well
as polite authors of our age, are prop
erly the elders, who have feen the
INTAKES of the younger ages Of man
kind, and corrected them, by OFFER
walton and experience"
Again, 'To believe in all things
as our predeceGors did, is the ready
way to keep mankind in an everlaft-
ing ftate of infancy; and to lay an
eternal bar againit all the improve
rncnts Of our reafon * our happincfs. p
I Our Philosophical predecefors,
unhappily overlooked the acid fate of
purrefa6tion. They believed that dur
ing the pu;refaetiye procels an aka
u was evolved
BY lang ferries of obferyation and
experiment, however, many Ameri-
can phvfcians have become convin.
ced that during Putrefaction, an acid
is formed, which will corrode metals,
injure the green foliage of plants,
neutralize akalies, and affect even the
ftnics of fmell and talfe with its
| fournefs.
| We are equally fatisEed that if the
human body be acted upon, by this
acid of putrcfaGhon. in fate Of fuf-
hcieht itrength in the latter, and Of
predifpofition in the former, fome
form of difeafe will be excited. This
difeafe will be a true po10ning, tho
known by the name Of tfrrr.
This doctrine at frit, was oppofed,
like that Of the circulation Of the
bIood, in the days Of Harvey, but
Fit is now as fully acceded TO, by ma
tny Of the moi learned phyGcians in
America, as well as in Europe. Dir.
Trotter, Thyfician TO his Britanic
| Majefy's feet, has mentioned this
American doctrine Of pelilential flu
| IDS, with much refpeet, IN his Medi-
ca Nautica. "ln Germany, (fays
the Rev. DIR. Kunze,) the Mitchil-
iian doctrine gains ground every
| where" @
| Furthermore, when we introduced
alkalines as the mott natural, as well
as the mott efeaual antidotes to
| this peifon, we were accufed Of max
ling /" a dreadful iar0yatian," hecauie
our predecefors, particularly Hux-
ham, entertained a belief thar alkaline
| promoted putrefaction and that A.