Observations on the Diseases of Seamen. Blane Gilbert

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СКАЧАТЬ consisted, contributed to the healthiness, by its balsamic effluvia, I will not pretend to determine.

      The Invincible was also uncommonly healthy during this cruise, which may likewise be ascribed to good discipline, and to her having been more than three years in commission before sailing from England, whereby the men were brought into order, and accustomed to each other and to a sea life. This ship was almost singular in having no acute diseases for several months after arriving from Europe; but at length paid the tribute to the climate in May and June, as may be seen in the Table.

      From the account of the three frigates at the bottom of the list in the Table, it appears how much more healthy they are than ships of the line. The total complements of the three is exactly equal to that of one seventy-four-gun ship; but their whole sickness and mortality is less than that of any one ship of the line of that class, although the Triton was uncommonly sickly for a frigate.

      There seem to be several causes for the superior degree of health usually enjoyed by this smaller class of ships. There is less chance of mixtures of men in frigates, as their complement is smaller, and it is more easy for the captain and officers to keep an eye over a few men than a great number; for, in a great ship, there are generally men, who, concealing themselves in the most retired parts, no one takes cognizance of them, and they destroy themselves, and infect others, by their laziness and filth. In the next place, there is a greater proportion of volunteers and real seamen in frigates, and more landmen and pressed men in ships of the line, the former being more in request, on account of the greater chance of prize money. Lastly, a small ship is more easily ventilated, and the mass of foul air issuing from the hold, from the victuals, water, and other stores, as well as the effluvia exhaling from the men’s bodies, is less than in a large ship.

      Many other and more minute remarks might be made on different ships in this season of hard service; but to do this would be tedious, and the inspection of the Tables may suggest observations to the reader. There is a striking and instructive fact, however, with regard to two ships, which I cannot help relating. The Alcide and Invincible, both of seventy-four guns, in working to windward, after the action with the French fleet, on the 29th of April, anchored at Montserrat on the 11th of May, in order to water. They remained there only part of two days, and they procured no refreshment, except a few bushels of limes. The scurvy then prevailed to a great degree in both ships; but between this time and the 23d of May, when they came to an anchor at Barbadoes, sixty men, who had been confined with this disease, were discharged, as fit for duty, from the sick list of the Invincible, and a hundred and fourteen from that of the Alcide. These were the only two ships that had the advantage of the limes; and during these twelve remaining days of the voyage the scurvy continued to increase in all the other ships. Dr. Lind is the first author who gives a decided preference to lemons, limes, and oranges, over every other antiscorbutic; and the above-mentioned fact proves as demonstrably as possible the infinite advantage of this species of acid in scurvy.

      The fleet was supplied with essence of malt during all this campaign; and though it was, no doubt, of service, it was far from having that powerful and manifest effect that the acid fruits had, and certainly did by no means prevent the scurvy in all cases. I have strong testimonies, however, of its beneficial effects from the surgeons of several of the ships, particularly of the Gibraltar, Centaur, Torbay, and Alcide, in all of which it was found either to cure the scurvy in its first beginning, to retard its progress, or to mend the appearance of scorbutic ulcers, and dispose them to heal.

      I had conceived that melasses, being a vegetable sweet, must have been a very powerful antiscorbutic; but the greatest part of the last reinforcement of seven ships came from England furnished with this as an article of victualling, as a substitute for a certain proportion of oatmeal, which was withheld agreeably to a late very judicious order of the Admiralty. But though I am persuaded that this article of diet mitigated the disease, it was very far from preventing it; and the Princessa in particular, which suffered most from the scurvy, was well supplied with it.

      There is reason to think that it is not in the vegetable sweet alone that the antiscorbutic principle resides, but in this in conjunction with the natural mucilage, such as exists in the malt. I suspect likewise that the change which the essence undergoes in its preparation tends also to rob it of some of its original virtue. But the melasses are still farther altered by being deprived of the natural mucilage by means of quick lime, with which all sugar is clarified in the boilers. Dr. Hendy, of Barbadoes, to whom I have been obliged for several remarks, informed me, that the liquor, before it undergoes this operation, has been found by him to produce the most salutary effects in the scurvy; but as this cannot be had at sea, we had no opportunity of comparing it with other antiscorbutics. It is certain also that the medical effects of the native sweet juices are, in other respects, very different from what they are in their refined state; for manna, wort, and the native juice of the sugar cane, are purgative; whereas sugar itself is not at all so5. This affords a presumption, that they may be also different in their antiscorbutic quality; and there is reason to think, from experience, that the more natural the state in which any vegetable is, the greater is its antiscorbutic quality. Vegetables, in the form of sallads, are more powerful than when prepared by fire; and I know, for certain, that the rob of lemons and oranges is not to be compared to the fresh fruit. Raw potatoes have been used with advantage in the fleet, particularly by Mr. Smith, of the Triton, who made the scorbutic men eat them, sliced with vinegar, with great benefit. This accords also with what Dr. Mertans, of Vienna, has lately communicated to the Royal Society of London.

      When the fleet arrived at Barbadoes on the 23d of May, it was found that the number of sick on board amounted to sixteen hundred, and that there was not accommodation for more than two hundred at the hospital. As there was hardly any complaint but scurvy, the Admiral, at my representation, issued an order for serving the sick on board of their own ships with fruit and other vegetables and refreshments, such as milk and soft bread. This course of diet commenced in the beginning of June; and as the greater part of the fleet was near four weeks thereafter in port, they enjoyed the advantages of it during that time; and the very great diminution of sickness and mortality, which appears by the Tables in that month, sufficiently evinces the benefit derived from it. In less than four weeks the fleet, from being very sickly, became extremely healthy.

      It was remarked, that the men recovered faster on board than on shore; and it would appear that land air, merely as such, has no share in the cure of the scurvy, and that the benefit arises from the concomitant diet, cleanliness, and recreation. The expedient of curing men on board of their ships was here suggested by necessity; but it succeeded so well, that it was adopted afterwards in preference to an hospital, which is indeed a useful relief to a fleet where there are contagious, acute disorders; but with regard to scurvy, I am convinced, that on foreign stations, at least, where the accommodations of the sick are more indifferent than in England, many advantages would arise from supplying men with refreshments on board of their ships. It appears that only four men died of this disease in the whole fleet in the month of June, though there were so many ill of it; whereas it appears by the books of hospitals, that scorbutic men die there in a much greater proportion, and chiefly in consequence of other diseases, particularly the flux, which they catch by infection, or bring on by intemperance. It is farther in favour of this scheme, that great numbers of those sent on shore are lost by desertion. It is also a great saving to Government, the expence not being a fourth part of what it would cost at an hospital.

      The fleet left Barbadoes on the 10th and 12th of July, and continued healthy till the greater part of it sailed for North America in the beginning of August.

      PART I

      BOOK II

      Continuation of the Medical History of the Fleet, from August, 1781, till the Conclusion of the War in April, 1783.

      CHAP. I

      Some Account of the Interval between the Campaign of 1781 and the Junction of the Reinforcement from England СКАЧАТЬ