MITCHILL 806 MITCHILL 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 indefatigable; as a lecturer, clear and impressive. A classical and scien- tific 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. August Sch.«iChner. Boston Med. and Surg. Jour., 1852, vol. xiv "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, In this village his father, Robert Mitchill, of English descent, was a farmer, of the Society of Friends. Young Mitchill had his classical education under Dr. Leonard Cutting; his early med- ical studies with his uncle Latham ; he com- pleted them in New York, with the erudite Dr. Samuel Bard (q. v.), with whom he con- tinued three years — a devoted pupil. He advanced the scientific reputation of New York by his early promulgation, when first appointed professor in Columbia Col- lege, of the Lavoisierian system of chemistry. His first scientific paper was an essay on "Evaporation": hi3 mineralogical survey of New York, in 1797, gave Volney many hints ; his analysis 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 awak- ened inquiry from every class of observers throughout the Union; and his e.xpositions of a theory of the earth and solar system capti- vated minds of the highest qualities. Specula- tions on the phosphorescence of the waters of the ocean, on the fecundity of fish, on the decortication of fruit trees, on the anatomy and physiology of the shark, swelled the mys- tery of his diversified knowledge. His cor- respondence with Priestly is an example of the delicious manner in which argument can be conducted in philosophical discussion. His elaborate account of the fishes of our fresh and salt waters adjacent to New York, com- prising 166 species, afterwards enlarged, in- voked the plaudits of Cuvier. Reflections on somnium — the case of Rachel Baker — evinced psychological views of original combination, while the numerous papers on natural history enriched the annals of the Lyceum, of which he was long president. Researches on the ethnological characteristics of the red man of America betrayed the benevolence of his nature and his generous spirit. The fanciful article, "Fredonia," intended for a new and more appropriate geographical designation for the United States, was at one period a topic which enlisted a voluminous correspondence, now printed in the proceedings of the New York Historical Society. He increased our knowledge of the vege- table materia medica of the United States, and wrote largely on the subject to Barton of Philadelphia, Cutler of Massachusetts, Darlington of Pennsylvania, and Ramsay of South Carolina. He introduced into practice the scssamum orientaU. With Percival, of Manchester, and other philosophers in Europe, he corresponded lengthily on no.xious agents, also seconded the views of Judge Peters on gypsum as a fertilizer. He cheered Fulton v.'hen he was dejected; encouraged Livingston; awakened new zeal in Wilson, when Tomp- kins, the governor of the state, had nigh paralyzed him by his frigid and unfeel- ing reception ; and with John Pintard, Cad- wallader D. Colden, and Thomas Eddy, was a zealous promoter of that system of internal improvement which has stamped immortality on the name of De Witt Clinton. Jonathan Williams had his co-operation in furtherance of the Military Academy at West Point ; and, for a long series of years, he was an important professor of agriculture and chemistry in Columbia College, and of natural history, botany, and materia medica in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York. His letters to Tilloch, of London, on the progress of his mind in the investigation of septic acid — oxygenated azote — are curious as a physiological document. Many of his papers are in the London Philosophical Maga-
- ine and in the New York Medical Repository,
a journal of wide renown, which he established with Miller and Smith ; yet he wrote in the American Medical and Philosophical- Register, the New York Medical and Physical Journal, the American Mineralogical Journal, of Bruce, the Transactions of the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, and supplied several other periodicals, both abroad and at home, with the results of his cogitations. He accom-
