Inquiry into the nature and cause of miasmata, more particularly illustrated in the former and present state of the Campagna di Roma / P. Murphy.

  • Murphy, Patrick, 1782-1847.
Date:
1825
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Inquiry into the nature and cause of miasmata, more particularly illustrated in the former and present state of the Campagna di Roma / P. Murphy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    derive their vitality from it; it being not only the theatre of a variety of phenomena, but the reser- voir from which the elements of sustenance, as well as of dissolution, in these kingdoms are drawn. And were it not for some lights elicited by modern discoveries, together with certain data furnished by nature, it is probable these^obstacles would continue to oppose such a bar to research as would render future inquiry equally unavailing as that already made to develop the principles that have so long involved these phenomena in mystery. And perhaps to the above obstacles a no less formidable one will be found to have its source in a quarter that would least be suspected of it; viz., that of making analysis and experiment the sole means by which to guide physical inquiry; as those at best are only calculated for arriving at the knowledge of the component parts and pecu- liar properties of particular substances. In this I wish not to be understood as undervaluing the importance of this species of inquiry, as it is by means of it that chemistry has been made so avail- able to the arts. Yet as to its being the means most likely to lead to a knowledge of the laws from which the * harmony of things observable in the works of creation flow, or the various phe- nomena resulting from their movements, it were the same as to expect, by the discovery of a particular spring, wheel, or pivot, belonging to a complicated piece of machinery, that the mind