Alabama state intelligencer., 1831-07-30
From the New-York American.

defStanu the nature Ot nOXiOuS eXhalatiOns, the more likely are we, as a community, to apply the remedy for this evil. A few years ago appeared an able work on this important subject by Dr MCulloch, an eminent physi- clan, whose opportunities of observation in a long course ot extensive practice in India, had enabled him to embodv many curious iacts' he American Quarterly Review of December, 1928, and the Medico Chirurgical keVlew Tor that year, both speak in high terms ot thls acceptable essay, considered peculiar sTaSohdole and interesting to our country.
 Nothlng can be more certain in cause and effect, than that an arial poison emanates from the concurrence of heat, moisture and vegetable decomposition. In the country. we know It springs from the borders of streams and pools; but we are not practically convince ed that the same causes will produce like cf- fects m citles Truly disagreeable would be thls toplc, did not it's philosophy suggest the remedy As nature presents the antidote by the side of the poison, so in cities the means or information, and the powers of wealth, coon'eract the consequences of dense popu- latlon, ii the inhabitants will.
 ne last ot three theories of malaria (the lst, that 1t IS poisonous odour, the 2d, that it IS poisonous gas, tie Sd, that it i, aeyiaI hoi- sononS dnt7nolcH}de, J is best supported by the facts and phenomena, and it's abharrenc,, to our senslbillty and imagination may have a saluta1y effect in rousng the Hercules of pub llc opinion to an effort to clear out a general nuisance from the city, so systematicallv and successfully, as to be for ever constantly done
 he book alluded to considers it to be gas; but the writer in the Quarterly Review considers 1t, with better reason, QnianaIcUlay.
 He says-lt is not gas, for many of the aolest chemists have anxously made exDeri- ments, Tn a variety of situations, on miasma- tous ar, expressly for the purpose of ascer- talnlng this point; and the result has uniform " been, that the air examined contained no other constituent gas than the atmosphere usually contains.
 It IS conceded even by Dr M MsCuloch that none or the known gases are miQSRa. It is not carDomc acid gas, nor hydrophosphat, nor sulphuretted hydrogen, nor any other known gas And II, on analysis, there were any re- Siduai gas' thls point would not possibly have escaped an experienced analyst. In fact, ma ny or the Known properties of miasma are in consistent with those of any gas. This is evil dent from the following considerations lst. Miasma are known to attach to solid substances, and clothes, and persons: this no gas ever does.
 2d. It is capable of being waited in moist air to considerable distances; but gas wonld be diffused and lost in the air
 Sd. It may be intercepted by trees-itis de- composed by the sun-there are varieties of this poson-a gauge veil prevents it's effects Tn some places it accumulates so as to render them unlnhabtable; but a gas would be diff fused and neutralzed
 we conclude, then, that it is not gas, but more likely to be an odour. But it cannot be only an odour, because miasma is not aLzvays PerceptDleto the sense of smell. It is attend- cd, however, usually by eff1uvia; probably in- tended to guard and warn man away from the presence of the poison.
 The arguments for its being animQlcular are, that the times and seasons, the places and circumstances where miasma abound, arc the same as where insects abound; warm eli mate, warm weather, moist places and decav- ing vegetation invariably concur and produce both. Insects are of all sizes, from the lar gest down to those which the most powerful microscopes exhibit to our sight. Large or small, the laws of their production are the | same;-thus inSeCtS, animaicukae and D1iasD7a are connected in time, place and circum. stances. Their identity, therefore, is the on
 y explanation. We know that animalcula do exist in the water, iii the air, in our food, and even in our bodies; sometimes without ill effects; but we also know that they eeneraliv form hart Qf di8ea8e-Dr Paterson's expe- riments in 1920 proved this.
 The facts collected by Dr M'Culloch can be explained only on the animalcular theory. Mlasmata are destroyed by chemical agents. | he dsinfectng gases, clorinc and nitrogen, destroy them, and would destroy all animal lie, if administered in an adequate degree. | WII1cmn aft ta ,1,
 It acts most powerfully near it's source It capable of being waited to great distances, particularly in a moist atmosphere; but it is impossible not 70 6eLcUe that gas would be d!Dnaed through the air. It is a general law that gases diffuse themselves among each other; but insects may be waited with all their inhfren qualities to any distance, and exist unul circumstances are no longer favorable tc thGr existence. Thus the frost when it first comes, puts an immediate end to miasma in our southern states. How could this be if it were an odour or gas? Indeed, they are de- stroyed by the intensity of the sun; and there lore love the shade and the epening, when they are more abroad and more dangerous Dr Rush. in 1793, was of opinion that there was little danger at noon day in Philadelphia of the then prevailing yellow fever
 gauge veil or curtain is said to be pre- ventive. If it were gas, this precantion would be unavailing; but miasma being ami macule, they do not pass through the gauge. Ladies should wear gauge veils in the evening, when walking in the streets. The difficulty ot accounting for the occurrence of fever on high ground at miles distant from the shore ot a stagnant water, vanishes on the supposi- ton of an animacular cause. But distance will diminish the proportion; and small quan- tity or number may be coped with by the con- stltution, when larger would be too power | ful for it.
 Not only then is distance not exempt, but the prevalence of the cause of miasma pro- duces not only levers of various degrees of in