Portland Gazette, And Maine Advertiser

FOR THE PORTLAND GAZETTE.

MR. ADAMS,

I HAVE just been looking over the Argus, and was astonished at the wild and incorrect assertions it contained in a piece signed "Oxygen."— The writer of this piece, is most assuredly a vain, foolish person. And I will venture to say, that he never has read the works of Locke
the works of Boerhaave, Van Swieten, Huxham, Culpeper, nor Cullen; if he had, he would not have appeared so ignorant of the subject he has undertaken, nor have attempted to pervert the public opinion, at noon-day, and as it were in the face and eyes of so much authority, as can be adduced in favor of the doctrine, that bile, is the cause of all those diseases, which are called bilious. Mr. Oxygen says, "That bile is never the existing cause of those morbid states of the system, which are attended with a plentiful discharge of it." Now I do affirm, and I have the most celebrated medical philosophers to support the affirmation, that the bile is always the existing cause, of those diseases in which a large quantity of putrid and acrimonious bilious matter is discharged. Boerhaave, Culpeper, Huxham and Cullen, were each of them supporters of this principle. These respectable physicians, had great advantages, and were well skilled in natural philosophy, physiology, and chemistry. This being the case, I would ask Mr. Oxygen, whether he thinks he shall be successful, in his attempt at innovation; and, whether, because he says there is no such thing as bilious diseases that we who have been long in the habit of thinking so, and of practising accordingly, must now renounce all as error, falsehood and quackery. If Oxygen entertains such notions as these, he will find himself mistaken. I will now take the liberty of recommending to Oxygen, the perusal of Huxham on fevers, &c. Cullen's first Lines, and Culpeper's English Physician.

AN ENEMY TO INNOVATION.