MITCHELL
179
MITCHILL
Great Britain and France, by an Impar-
tial Hand," 1757.
"An Account of the Yellow Fever which Prevailed in Virginia in 1737 to 1741 and 1742, in Letters to Cadwallader Golden and Benjamin Franlclin," pub- lished by Rush in the " Medical and Philosophical Register," vol. iv.
Letter concerning the "Force of Elec- trical Cohesion."
D. W.
Thacher's Amer. Med. Biog.
Amer. Med. and Phil. Regiater, vol. iv.
Diet, of National Biog.
Contributions to the Annals of Medical
Progress (J. M. Toner).
Mitchell, Thomas Duche (1791-1865).
Thomas Duche Mitchell, author and editor, received his early education in the Quaker schools and after a year in the drug store and chemical laboratory of Dr. Edward (?) Parrish, attended three courses of medical lectures at the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated. The honorary degree of A. M. was conferred on him by the trus- tees of Princeton College in 1826.
In 1812 he was appointed professor of vegetable and animal physiology in St. John's Lutheran College and in 1819, pub- lished a volume of medical chemistry. From 1822 to 31 he was engaged in the practice of medicine at Frankiord, near Philadelphia, while 1826 saw the Total Abstinence Society firmly estabhshed by him, he going so far as to deprecate the use of alcohol in the preparation of tinctures.
In 1832 he pubHshed an octavo volume of 553 pages on "Chemical Philosophy" on the basis of " The Elements of Chem- istry," by Dr. Reid, of Edinburgh, and about the same time his " Hints to Students" appeared, and he became also co-editor of the "Western Medical Gazette," with Profs. Eberleand Staugh- ton, and editor of the "Journal of Med- ical and Associate Sciences."
Another book came out in 1850, an octavo volume of 750 pages on "Materia Medica," also an edition of "Eberle on the Diseases of Children," to which he
added notes and about 200 additional
pages. His volume of GOO pages on
the "Fevers of the United States" was
never published. He was the biographer
of John Eberle in "American Medical
Biography," by Samuel D. Gross, M. D.
As a writer and author he was indefa-
tigable, as a lecturer, clear and impres-
sive. A classical and scientific scholar,
a rigidly upright and conscientious
gentleman, he died in Philadelphia, May
13, 1865.
A list of his writings is in the " Surgeon- general's Catalogue," Washington, D. C.
A. S.
Boston Med. -and Surg. Jour., 1852, vol. xlv ("Cato").
Mitchill, Samuel Latham (1764-1831).
Samuel Latham Mitchill was born in North Hempstead, formerly Plandome, Queen's County, Long Island, New York, on the twenty -ninth of August, 1764. La this village his father, Robert Mitchill, of English descent, was a farmer, of the Society of Friends.
Young Mitcliill had his classical edu- cation under Dr. Leonard Cutting; his early medical studies with his uncle Latham; and completed them in New York, with the erudite Dr. Samuel Bard, with whom he continued three years — a devoted pupil.
He advanced the scientific reputation of New York by his early promulgation, when first appointed professor in Col- umbia College, of the Lavoisierian system of chemistry. His first scientific paper was an essay on "Evaporation;" his mineralogical survey of New York, in 1797, gave Volney many hints; his analy- sis of the Saratoga waters enhanced the importance of these mineral springs. His ingenious theory of the doctrine of septon and septic acid gave origin to many papers, and lent impulse to Sir Humphry Davy's vast discoveries; his doctrines on pestilence awakened inquiry from every class of observers throughout the Union; and his expositions of a theory of the earth and solar system captivated minds of the highest qualities. Specula-
