James Lind and scurvy / [Ralph Stockman].

  • Stockman, Ralph, 1861-1946.
Date:
[1926]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: James Lind and scurvy / [Ralph Stockman]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    any other author, and this work is more complete in all points, than any other work with which I am acquainted, upon any other medical subject.”5 Speaking of Woodall’s recommendation of lemon juice he says: “ It is singular that this important fact should have been hardly known for more than a hundred years afterwards, when the late Dr Lind of Haslar hospital revived and diffused this valuable piece of knowledge by his writings. It was this author who first clearly stated the singular powers of this remedy in the cure of scurvy, for Woodall only affirmed that its virtues were far superior to all other remedies.” 6 He returns again to this point: “ It is however a curious fact, though mortifying to human wisdom, and to our national sagacity, that the virtues of this remedy were equally well known in the beginning of last century as they are at this moment; yet it has never till now attracted the attention either of medical men or of sea officers to the degree it ought; insomuch that it had, in a great measure, fallen into neglect, when the knowledge of it was revived and its character retrieved, by the writings of the late Dr Lind.” Of course every naval surgeon and officer knew the value of fresh fruits and vegetables in scurvy, and used them freely when they could be obtained in port, but the difficulties of carrying a sufficient supply to sea were regarded as insuperable. Individual commanders had even taken supplies of lemon juice on long voyages, but this method of prophylaxis had been lost sjght of and practically forgotten in naval administration and medical practice. Lind’s book was published in 1753, and, as is well known and has often been commented on, his advice regarding the prevention and treatment of scurvy in the navy was ignored until 1794 when Blane, who was then a member of the Sick and Wounded Board, arranged that a small squadron destined for the East Indies should be furnished with an adequate supply of lemon juice. It was served out daily on the flag-ship, and on arrival at Madras, after a twenty-three weeks’ voyage, there were no cases of scurvy on board. A simultaneous trial in the Channel Fleet proved equally successful, and in 1795 an order for a general supply of lemon juice to H.M. ships was issued, with the result that in a few years scurvy had become a thing of the past.7 Henderson Smith8 says, that in stating that scurvy was totally rooted out within two years, “ Sir Gilbert Blane was swayed by an
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