A letter to the critical reviewers, on the most effectual means of preventing sickness in His Majesty's fleets and diminishing the expences of maritime service / by William Renwick.

Renwick, William, 1740?-1814.

Date:: 1794

Credit: A letter to the critical reviewers, on the most effectual means of preventing sickness in His Majesty's fleets and diminishing the expences of maritime service / by William Renwick. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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$C ^8 ] *re to be found where exhaling vapour from pu- trid fores, is fo immediately reverberated and taken into the lungs; whence he6lic and other mor- bid aflFe6lions that multiply the difeharges fo frequently confequent. {Here it is obvious that the more lofty a flip's decks are^ the more the crew are likely to be healthy.) It is alfo eafy to compre- hend, that ulcers will be more difficult to heal where, like the orifice of inoculation, they ferve as a drain for the poifon in continued abforption. For fuch diforders it were better to fubftitute temporary hofpitals on ffiorc. Convalejcent ffiips are more expedient—in order to prevent defertion, and preclude too early return to duty. Thefe purpofes require a greater num- ber than have been ufually allotted; efpecially as thofe. for whofe ufe they are intended, ffiould not deep on the lowermoft deck, where the air is fo unfavourable* to recovery. It is alfo effen- tial that convalefcents ffiould be fo far recovered previous to reception, as only to require time and nutritious diet for further reftoration. Such fliips are otherwife, however nominated, virtually hojpital ffiips. It is a cuftomary obfervation, that when a feaman has been twice at fick quarters he is no longer ^ ferviceable. From a deficiency of the former re- ceptacles, removals are neceffarily in fuch rapid fuc- ceffion, that men faid to be recovered are again early in the fick-lift, or difeharged as too debilitated for further employ. Many of the latter, from the want of regulating^/wr^cows, are afterwards refiored to no other purpofe than to be again difinilTcd. Others$