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to that made from fea-water, even to the bay-falt. Some experiments of its ufe I have made myself; and our college, being confulted by the Lords of the Admiralty, gave their opinion in its favour. There is in this nothing of that noxious quality, whatever it be, which is always found in the marine falt, and cannot, by any known methods, be feparated from it; and which, as we fee, makes the fea-air, as well as its water, unwholefome. And I cannot but fay, that I am forry to fee fome of our physicians, of late years, fo fond of prefcribing the drinking of it to their patients, particularly in fcrophulous diftempers. well affured, that it has fometimes brought on fcorbutic fymptoms, befides other mischiefs..

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I must add, that if, inftead of our falt-fifh, ftockfifh, which is dried without any falt, were provided, it would be more wholefome. The Dutch do fo; and alfo, in lieu of oatmeal, they put on board gort, which is, as I have been informed, a kind of barley ground; and is not fo hot and drying as oatmeal.

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I will here relate what that experienced and brave admiral, Sir Charles Wager, once told me in a difcourfe I had with him concerning the health of our feamen. He faid, that one year, when he commanded our fleet in the Baltic, his failors were terribly afflicted with the fcurvy: but he obferved that the Dutch fhips, then in company with ours, were much more free from this difeafe. He could impute this to nothing but their different food, which was flock-fifh and gort; whereas ours was falt-fish and oatmeal. He was then come last from the Mediterranean, and had, at Leghorn, taken in a great quantity of lemons and oranges. Recollecting, from what he had often K k 2

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heard, how effectual thefe fruits were in the cure of this diftemper, he ordered a cheft of each to be brought upon deck, and opened every day. The men, befides eating what they would, mixed the juice in their beer. It was alfo their conftant diverfion to pelt one another with the rinds; fo that the deck was always ftrewed and wet with the fragrant liquor. The happy effect was, that he brought his failors home in good health.

It is very commonly known, that, in our Eaft-India fhips returning home, the men are very much af, fected this way, and that upon their very approach to the island of St Helena, they are strangely relieved by the fresh odoriferous air; and perfectly recovered, after fome days, by eating the fruits, we have mentioned, and living chiefly upon the vegetables, which kindnature has fupplied that place with in profufe plenty.

What has been faid may ferve for a very good proof of the reasonablenefs of the advice given fome years ago, by our college, to the Lords of the Admiralty, viz. that a quantity of wine-vinegar fhould be allowed to the company of every fhip. This qualifies the falt of the food, and makes fome amends for the want of fub-acid fruits. But I must remark, that the vinegar of ftrong beer has neither the flavour nor the virtue of that from wine; and ought indeed to be forbidden our tables.

I fhall conclude what I have to fay with regard to feeding on herbs, in the fcurvy, with a remarkable. relation, contained in a book published, not many years fince, by a Dutch phyfician, on this fubject *.

Obfervationes circa fcorbutam, auctore Johanne Fred. Bachttrom. Lugduni Batavor. 1734. 12mo. p. 8:

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A failor, in one of the Greenland fhips, was fo entirely broken and difabled by this disease, that his companions, when the fishing was over, put him into a boat, and fent him afhore; leaving him there to perish, without the leaft expectation of a recovery. The poor wretch had quite loft the use of his limbs; he could only crawl about upon the ground: this he found covered with a plant, which, having nothing elfe to fupport life, he, continually grafing like a beaft of the field, plucked up with his teeth. Every country is, by the bounty of Providence, provided with antidotes against the diseases to which its inhabitants are chiefly liable. In a fhort time, he was by this means perfectly recovered to his ftrength, and, after his return home, related the fact to this writer. It was foon after obferved, that this herb was cochlearia, or fcurvy-grafs, Some of it was, for inquiry's fake, brought over hither in pots, and was found to be fomewhat different from that of our country, being more mild, and not fo pungent and sharp.

Thus much for the vegetable diet. I must add, that befides the herbs and fruits mentioned, there are many others very wholefome in this difeafe: fome like cochlearia, of a fubtile and volatile juice, as the nafturtium, beccabunga, or brooklime; others more cooling, and therefore more proper in hot conftitutions, or feverish heats, as forrel, endive, lettuce, purslain, &c. And, indeed, I think it will be beft to join in ufe the hotter with the colder, that they may qualify each other; especially, because the acid fruits were found, in Lord Anfon's voyage, to be of moft extraordinary benefit *.

*See voyage, p. 117. and alfo 3c8.

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Neither ought it to be omitted, that milk of all kinds, when it can be had, and its whey, which may be clarefied with fome of the herbs now named, is an antifcorbutic food and phyfic.

But, as the defign of this difcourfe is to demonftrate the ufefulness of the preceding machine, it will be right to add fome illuftrations and observations to those I formerly made in my paper read before the Royal Society, and reprinted in Mr Sutton's book *.

I have already taken notice, that the reason why the writers upon this disease have not ascribed it more to the air, than they have done, muft be, because they were more acquainted with it at land than at fea. Now, it is very plain, that as the hurtful qualities of the fea-air must be heightened by its being clofely confined, without due circulation, particularly when it is alfo faturated with effluvia from the breath of many persons almost stifled up together; fo the continual shifting and changing of this element, muft of courfe be attended with great advantages; nay fuch perhaps, as one unacquainted with the nature of things, would hardly be brought to believe. But I refer to my mentioned paper, and Mr Sutton's additions.

I must laftly remark, that it is almost incredible how foon the fick, even though just dying, begin, when brought athore, to feel the falutary effects of the land: for whereas the Commodore had buried twentyone men in two days, before his arrival at the island of Tinian, yet he did not lofe above ten, during his two months ftay there t. For fo healing, and.. contrary to the malignity and bad qualities of the fea*Above, p. 220. † See voyage, pr. 307.

air, was that of the land, that the patients, even upon their being expofed upon the ground, immediately recovered.

But it may seem still more marvellous, that the vapour of the cold earth itself should also contribute to their speedy recovery. Lord Anfon told me, that one of his men, who rowed the boat afhore, was fo weak, that he fell down at the oar almost dead: when landed, the poor man defired his mates that they would cut a piece of turf out of the foft ground, and put his mouth to the hole: upon doing this, he came to himself, and grew afterwards quite well. This puts me in mind of what I have formerly feen done by the boys on Shrove-Tuesday, the too cruel anniversary martyrdom of cocks; when one of thefe creatures was knocked down and expiring, it was fometimes brought to life again, by inftantly putting its head, for a fhort time, into a fresh-made hole in the earth.

This fudden good effect of fresh air affords a plain proof of what we have before faid, that, befides the blood, the animal fpirits themselves are very much affected in this disease: for fuch immediate relief could only be given by the means of this active fluid, the main inftrument of all vital motions. And as the protracting this advantage in the open air is the cure at hand; fo the making a constant circulation even of that which is not fo wholefome, in the fhip, must do a great deal towards the prevention of the diftemper.

R. M.

The End of the SECOND VOLUME.

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