The incidence of scurvy at sea and its treatment - article ; n°312 ; vol.84, pg 339-346

J.Burnby, A. Bierman

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Revue d'histoire de la pharmacie - Année 1996 - Volume 84 - Numéro 312 - Pages 339-346
8 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

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• Publié par: REVUE_D-HISTOIRE_DE_LA_PHARMACIE
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1996
• Nombre de lectures: 958
• Langue: English

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J. Burnby
A. Bierman
The incidence of scurvy at sea and its treatment
In: Revue d'histoire de la pharmacie, 84e année, N. 312, 1996. pp. 339-346.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Burnby J., Bierman A. The incidence of scurvy at sea and its treatment. In: Revue d'histoire de la pharmacie, 84e année, N.
312, 1996. pp. 339-346.
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/pharm_0035-2349_1996_num_84_312_6243PROFESSIONNELLES - THERAPEUTIQUE 339 PRATIQUES
The incidence of scurvy
at sea and its treatment
J. BURNBY, A. BIERMAN
Wirksworth, ENGLAND
Prince Henry the Navigator of from fevers and dysentery but most scurvy. It soon became apparent Portugal in about 1430 established his
that the progression of scurvy was school at Sagres, near Cape St. Vince
directly related to the length of the nt, in order to study the art of navi
voyage l. Christopher Columbus in his gation. Its success was such that by
epoch-making voyage of 1492 lost only 1488 Bartholmeu Dias had rounded
one man from the disease, and it is the southern tip of Africa and nine
now known that the expedition had years later Vasco da Gama set off on
been accomplished before the body his successful bid to reach the Indies.
stores of Vitamin C had been exhausHe returned to Lisbon in August 1499
ted 2. And the same can be said of John having travelled some 27,000 miles
Cabot's voyages in 1497 and 1498 from but with only 54 of his original crew
Bristol to Nova Scotia and Newfoundlof 170 men. The ship had been
and3. adequately provisioned with salt beef,
The search for anti-scorbutics biscuits, sardines, lentils, onions, garl
began, but without anybody having ic, plums, almonds and honey as well
the slightest idea that it was due to a as a daily ration per man of 1,25 pints
dietary deficiency. Some were found of wine and 2,5 pints of water which
by accident and some by design, and was replenished at the Cape Verde
none until the late eighteenth century Islands and at the Cape. It was not
were sytematically applied except durlong after they had left the tip of South ing the pioneering voyages of James Africa that a bewildering disease Cook. struck them. The men suffered from Jacques Carder's crew on his
an increasing lassitude, their gums second voyage to Canada during the
became swollen and teeth fell out, the winter of 1536 were cured by an
skin was covered with purple blotches infusion of the bark and leaves of a
and their limbs became contorted ; tree which the Indians called "Ameda"
many died before they reached Momb or "Annedda", now thought to have
asa. They had fallen victim to scurvy been Thuja occidentalis . Curiously
which was to prove the scourge of on the enquiries of another French
long-distance voyaging in the seven man it proved impossible only
teenth and eighteenth centuries. 72 years later to track down either the
Ferdinand Magellan, who began trees in question or the Indians with
his circumnavigation of the world in this knowledge.
1519, fared even worse for he lost no There is little doubt however that
in northern lands the idea of using less than 208 men out of 230, some ACTES DU XXXIP CONGRÈS INTERNATIONAL D'HISTOIRE DE LA PHARMACIE 340
spruce twigs was known. Scurvy was It is recorded that in the winter "Grel" not uncommon amongst the civilian of 1632 on board the Dutch ship
a garden was laid out in order to propopulation of Sweden yet the army of
vide fresh foods ; horse radish, cresses Charles XII on the European main
and scurvy grass were all cultivated. land was not afflicted. This is thought
to have been due to the influence of Gardening on board ship became so
popular that the Dutch Company in the chemist Urban Hjàrne, FRS and
1677 had to forbid it owing to the physician to the Swedish king, who
damage that the ships were receiving proposed that each soldier should
from tree roots. The idea was never drink every day a pint of ale in which
however totally abandoned. fresh pine shoots had been steeped 5.
John Livingstone, surgeon of the When Joseph Banks made his trip
East Indiaman, the "Cirencester", to Newfoundland in the mid eight
reported in the Edinburgh Medical and eenth century he too came across a
Surgical Journal (Vol. 1 (1805 p. 165) similar preparation to which has been
that when the ship had sailed on given the name spruce beer6.
5 June 1795, they had been unable to By the late sixteenth century the
procure any lime-juice, "the only value of oranges and lemons appears
article on which any dependence to have been fairly widely known. could be placed in combatting this Ronsseus in 1564 claimed that Dutch
dreadful complaint". By September sailors afflicted with scurvy had found scurvy was "pretty general on board"
when loading citrus fruit in Spain for but the lives of many were saved Holland that their condition because their commander, Captain improved 7. Sir Richard Hawkins who Martin Lindsay, "converted a part of in 1593 set out in the "Daintie" for his own apartments into a garden
his passage of the Straits of Magellan, which he managed himself with wond
gave an account of scurvy, adding, erful success."
"That which I have seene most fruitful Sir Hugh Plat an Elizabethan for the sicknesse is sower oranges and merchant who provisioned ships but
lemons... infirmitie" a 8. certain remédie for this also had an interest in botany gave
bottled lemon juice preserved in alco
The 1598 voyage of the Dutch East hol to Sir James Lancaster, the com
India Company under Van Neck and mander of the first fleet of the English
Van Warwyck certainly carried lemon Honorable East India Company which
juice and it is obvious that the Dutch left on 13 February 1601 for Sumatra.
knew the value of fruit 9. On their voy It was only the crew of the flagship, the
age of 1614 to the East, they stopped "Red Dragon" which received a daily
at Sierra Leone because of scurvy and allowance of lemon juice and it was
there bought by barter 3,000 -lemons noticeable that it was only they who
and then a further 25,000 10. were relatively free from scurvy. It is
They established vegetable gard known that the third and fifth voyages
ens and orchards at Mauritius and also used lemon juice, and it is prob
St. Helena and their colonisation at able that the second and fourth did
the Cape in 1652 was undertaken to also 12.
supply fresh provisions from the Comp Most telling of all is the book The
any's farms and gardens, where by Surgion's Mate published in 1617 by
1661 there were a thousand citrus John Woodall who had been
appointed the HEIC's first Surgeon- trees growing n. PROFESSIONNELLES - THERAPEUTIQUE 341 PRATIQUES
was a 'sea scurvy' and a land scurvy'. General five years earlier. Woodall
described the signs and symptoms of It was J. F. Bachstrom in his Obser-
vationes circa scorbutum published in scurvy and the general care of the pati
ent in which he advocated neither 1734 who came out strongly against
this idea, giving examples. He wrote bleeding nor purging as they were too
debilitating. The greatest emphasis that there was only one cause of
was placed on the administration of scurvy - the absence of fresh veg
citrus juices. "The Chirurgeon or his etables for a long period. No drugs
Mate must not fail to persuade the were of any help, nor were mineral
Governour or Purser in all places acids, a diet rich in green vegetables
where they touch in the Indies, and and fruit was all that was required as
a preventive or for treatment 17. may have it, to provide themselves of
Juices of Oranges, Limes or Lemons, The final blow to all the wilder
and at Banthame of Tamarinds... The ideas of treatment and prevention, one
use of the juice of Lemons is a pre would have thought, should have been
cious medicine and well tried, being dealt by the publication of James
sound and good ; let it have the chief Lind's famous Treatise on the Scurvy
place, for it will deserve it" 13. in 1753. After an apprenticeship with
Thereafter it was normal for George Langlands, an apothecary and
lemon water', as it was called, to be surgeon of Edinburgh, Lind joined the
supplied until 1625, indeed Woodall Royal Navy in 1739 as a surgeon's
himself says, "... there is good quantiti mate, and on 20 May 1747 began an
es of juice of lemons sent in each ship experiment on H.M.S. Salisbury.
out of England by the great care of Today it would receive little credit as
the Marchants..." 14. But then the Feb there were no controls and the numb
ruary minutes relate that the Com er of patients few, but the results
pany was not to provide it because the were convincing, so convincing that
"woman supplying it wanted 12d. a he felt constrained to write about his
gallon above the usual price", and that work.
instead it was to be obtained in Spain He took twelve patients suffering
which was of better quality anyway. from scurvy, divided them into six
The return voyage of October 1626 groups and dosed each couple with
was badly afflicted with scurvy different medicines but otherwise
because they had bought tamarinds in received a common diet. Two were
the East Indies which were then ordered a qua