PRESERVATION
OF MARINERS:.
all the lkuttles and hatchways w>ere Ihut, and the fmoak confined,
fo that it had time likewife to deftroy the vermin. When this
operation was done during winter, I generally found the thermometer
in my cahin to rife, and to remain higher during the firlt
twenty-four hours.; the difference however feldom exceeded, two
or three degrees : for the fire was made between decks', and the
fmoak only penetrated into my cabin by the chinks and crevices of
the deck.
T h e next objedt falling under examination, are the perfons them-
felves failing in the Ihip, and their drefs. In general we find mankind
o f die fame turn of mind ; among all ranks o f men are füch as
love neatnefs o f their perfons and cleanlinefs both in regard to their
bodies and their cloths; and likewife there are others, who from
an invincible connate indolence or fluggifhnefs are always dirty,’
and though they have a fufficient change they-become however
fb uncleanly, that it feems almoft an inherent quality to them;
no
fufpected this circumftance to contribute ' much towards tlieir' being remarkably lefs fickly,
than thofe (hips of the lame fize of a modern conftru£tion, is certainly very right in his fufpi-
cion. When I was at Plymouth in the year 1772, expecting the arrival of the Refolution,
Dr. Irving vifited with me a Dutch man of war, then lying there: we found the kitchen
in:the.middle part o f the orlop, fomewhat before the main malt, and enquiring how they
found the fiiip in regard to healthinefs, when out at fea for fome time, we were told, that i
was remarkably healthy. The fmoak was very great and the heat in the middle o f a very
warm day, was to us, almoft intolerable between decks.
625
no wonder therefore, that perfons of both thefe qualifications pr e ser -
, ; H | VAT ION
ihould be found in a fhip’s company. Th e fame cloth conltantly 0p m a r i -
put on without any change, .-muff very naturally imbibe a great ners-.
part of the effluvia carried off by. perfpiration, and being conltantly
worn, the pores mult again imbibe the impure vapours; and as
the filthinefs in their -external behaviour caufes -them to poltpone
their waihing, many pores mult by this riegledt be ftopt up, and
the infenfible perfpiration prevented. A l l which c-ircumltances
contribute greatly towards accelerating the.effefts o f the feuryy.
-Let us now confider how far the aliments on board a Ihip can
-be made antifeptic in long voyages; for it can be no remedy
-againll the feuryy to give the patients a fmall dafe of phyfic;
fince the greater part o f the food o f a lai-lor is either putrid or at
dealt in fuch a Hate, that-it mult highly promote and accelerate -’the
putrefence o f the whole h ab it: it becomes therefore abfolutely
■ neceffary to provide a fubltance by way o f aliment, which will keep
a long while at fea without decaying, and which will yield in
’quantity thofe particles, which are generally wanting in the putrid
food. T h e flejh mult be faked, and of courfe is liable to lofe by
lying long in fait thofe particles,- which when boiled down-, firlt
yield a gelatinous fubltance, and daftly a kind o f - glue, the only
nutritive parts -contained in all meat; this aliment is therefore one
of-thofe which cannot be preferved in a.good’condition, he it ever
4 -L ' . - >