An inaugural dissertation on the chemical and medical history of septon, azote, or nitrogene : and its combination with the matter of heat and the principle of acidity ; submitted to the public examination of the faculty of physic, under the authority of the trustees of Columbia College in the state of New-York ; William Samuel Johnson, LL.D president : for the degree of Doctor of Physic ; on the third day of May, 1796 / by Winthrop Saltonstall, citizen of the state of Connecticut.

  • Saltonstall, Winthrop, 1775-1802.
Date:
1796
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An inaugural dissertation on the chemical and medical history of septon, azote, or nitrogene : and its combination with the matter of heat and the principle of acidity ; submitted to the public examination of the faculty of physic, under the authority of the trustees of Columbia College in the state of New-York ; William Samuel Johnson, LL.D president : for the degree of Doctor of Physic ; on the third day of May, 1796 / by Winthrop Saltonstall, citizen of the state of Connecticut. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    gene alone being the ingredient, in phlogistic operations, vi readily attracts its oxygene from the gaseous oxyd.* During the plague at Marseilles, (which I shall hereafter endea- vour to show was occasioned by the same vitiated state of the atmos- phere that causes all pestilential and most epidemic diseases, to wit, the chemical union of septon with oxygene) a great quantity of wood, brush, and faggots were procured, laid in piles at small dis- tances from each other, along the walls of the town, in all the public walks, squares and markets, and at the house doors—set fire to at the same time, and burned to ashes. This, though repeated till all the fuel was spent, did no good. Afterwards, quantities of brimstone were bought up and used in fumigations: but the sickness raged with greater virulence than before.—The experiment made with tar^ in the city of New-York, in September, i 795, was of no service, and ti le epidemic increased afterwards. The reason of which is obvious; the gaseous oxyd resists the attractive powers of charcoal and sul- phur, and cannot be resolved by them into its constituent parts. Fires made with oil, fat, wax, and tallow, might perhaps have been advantageous, on account of the greater proportion of hydrogene in these substances. During the plague in London, in 1665, large of coal were continued, in many parts of the city, for three day-:, and an unusual mortality immediately ensued. Was this,. it might be asked, by consuming the oxygene gas, while the oxyd remained unaltered by the coal fires? If so, they are neither useful nor harmless, but of the most pernicious consequence. This gaseous oxyd can be'separated from septous gas by its ready miscibility with water, with which it combines, in its natural tem- perature, in a very pure form, at the same time that it undergoes decomposition! or change, by mixture with the at- mospheric fluid, nitrous gas, or vital air: but it is to be remember- ed, tnat, by mixing with water, it is only taken out of circulation £ atmosphere, ana not decompounded; and on evaporation, or the application ot a sufficient degree of heat, it is dissevered from its connection, and re-exists in the atmosphere. This gaseous oxyd may be obtained by exposure of septic (ni- trous) gas to the sulphure of potash (hepar sulphuris): after a iin progress, in the combination of the oxygene and sulphure, been made, the residuum is found to have no acidity—to be a proper cxyd, and to possess the permanently elastic properties Sect.