Lectures on the adulteration of food and culinary poisons, the detection of poisons in general, and of adulterations in sundry chemical preparations, &c. used in medicine and the arts, with the means of discovering them : and rules for determining the purity of substances : delivered in the United States Military Academy / by James Cutbush.

  • Cutbush, James, 1788-1823.
Date:
1823
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lectures on the adulteration of food and culinary poisons, the detection of poisons in general, and of adulterations in sundry chemical preparations, &c. used in medicine and the arts, with the means of discovering them : and rules for determining the purity of substances : delivered in the United States Military Academy / by James Cutbush. 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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    throughout the city was generally very impure; hence the present introduction of Schuylkill water, the nu- merous advantages of which are now appreciated. Mr. Sennebicr has shown, that well water usually contains a greater proportion of carbonic acid gas, man spring or river water. Lake water is merely a collection of rain water, and is seldom so transparent as river water. Itcon- tains frequently decomposed animal and vegetable matter. Marsh water is altogether stagnant, and ie largely charged with animal and vegetable remains, to the decomposition of which the noxious miasmata of marshes is attributed. The deleterious effect of marsh air is particularly observable to the south. Rice grounds, which are low wet land, produce an abundance of this miasmata, and extend its fatal in- fluence for many miles. Since the rice culture near Savannah has been abolished, that city enjoys a greater degree of health. River water is the purest when it runs over a gra- velly or rocky bed, and when its course is swift. It is generally soft, and more free from earthy salts than spring water. In the new river water, near London, we are informed that a minute portion of muriate of lime, carbonate of lime, and muriate of soda, are con- tained. Although rive r water may, in general, be free from saline matter, yet it is often fouled with mud, containing much animal and vegetable matter, which are suspended in it. The water running by cities must be exceedingly impure. The river water of