R E M A R K S o n t h e
P r e s e r v
a t i o n
OF M A R I N
ER S .
In lead of ail it is undoubtedly preferable to allow fome fugar to
people intended to go on long, voyages, according to the opinion
-of Capt. C o o k .* Sugar is'one o f thofe vegetable fubftances,
which contain an acid o f phofphorus, and an oily inflammable
principle ; and which on-account of the juft and proper proportion
o f the acid and phlogifton in its m ix t u r e , ferments in general
more eafily, yields more freely a vinous fermentation, and when
mixed with other fubftances which are not in adual fermentation,
i t fooner. communicates a fermentation to them, than any other
known vegetable fubftance. This quality no doubt makes fugar
one of the beft antifeptics, and its ufe will greatly contribute to
redify the putrefcence o f the fait food eaten on board a fhip, and
prevent- the fcurvy from breaking out.
T h e ufe of fweet-wort, o r the infufion o f malt, ground in a coarfe
•jj^jmner into g r o a t s or grits, is at prelent io generally known to be
the bell prophyladic againft the fcurvy, that it would-be fuper-
fiuous to recommend its ut ility ; lince Dr. Maebride, Sir John
Pringle and Captain Cook have put this matter entirely out of
-doubt. The wort was prepared by infufing two or three pints of
■ boiling-water cm one pint of good malt, ground -in a coarfe manner :
the infufion was, kept in a warm place, near the fire o f the galley,
and
* Capt. Cook’s Voyages towards the South Pole, and round the world, vol, ii. p. 290.
H U M A N S{ P E C I E S. 63d
and clofely covered to prevent its growing cold: o f this liquor the
perfons threatened by the fcurvy drank every day one or two pints
warm, two or three hours before and after their meals; thofe
who had already fome flight lymptoms of the fcurvy, drank a quart
o f this wort, twice a d a y ; and laftly, thofe who were very much
attacked by that dreadful evil, were allowed three quarts and more.
I * obferved wonderful effeds of this remedy on board our ihip.
Amongft other fcorbutic patients, we had two who were fcarcely
a few days out at fea, when the firft fymptoms o f the fcurvy con-
ftantly appeared, and rapidly increafed to a very violent and dangerous
degree ; their gums were bleeding and ulcerated, their teeth
loo'fe, their feet Oedematous, with large,-livid, and purple blotches;
the fwelling, when prefled by a finger, would leave a pit for a good
while; the urine fmelt offenfively putrid, and contained long filaments
: and one of the men loll entirely the,ufe of his limbs, which
became contraded : thefe two patients were not only quite reftored
by the copious ufe of the fweet-wort, but one of them acquired a
quite new fet of gums, the old ones being much impaired, and
having fallen gradually away by ulceration ; and the other was, in
his contradion, much relieved, by conftantly applying the warm
grains of malt, (after the infufion or fweet-wort had been drawn
off) to his crippled limbs : I faw another man, whofe fwelling
and purple blotches on the feet difappeared, by frequent fomenta-
4.M
P R E S E R V
A T IO N
OF M A R I N
E R S . '
tions