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A review by valparaiso
Scurvy: How a Surgeon, a Mariner, and a Gentlemen Solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age of Sail by Stephen R. Bown
4.0
We hear about the dreaded disease scurvy in pirate lore. But what caused it? Why did it wreak such havoc in the annals of exploration? And how was a cure finally discovered, and by whom?
Author Stephen Bown serves up an interesting survey of the problem of scurvy at sea over the centuries from the dawn of the Age of Sail, and three men in particular who made remarkable strides to identify and solve this vexing seafaring challenge that killed hundreds of thousands of sailors up until the mid-19th century.
The first, James Lind, a medical doctor from Scotland, conducted the world's first scientific study of scurvy on a ship called the Salisbury in 1747, where he served as ship's surgeon. Lind discovered that the juice from lemons and oranges were successful in restoring to health men with symptoms of scurvy on long ocean voyages. However, for a multitude of reasons, persuading the Royal Navy to act on his findings proved futile--due in large part to resource constraints and social and hierarchical pressures.
The second, famed English Captain James Cook, was tasked with experimenting with a cure for scurvy on his renowned expedition on the Endeavour to the south Pacific from 1768-1771. Famously, he lost no man to the dreaded disease. It was known that poor diet was the cause of the disease, but they had not figured out that it was a deficiency of vitamin C.
The third, Gilbert Blane, an English physician of high social standing, took Lind's and Cook's evidence and won audience and favor with the Lord of the Admiralty, finally persuading the Royal Navy to provision ships with enough ascorbic acid from lemons and oranges to virtually eradicate the malady.
I really enjoyed this book. I am delving deeper into characters and stories from the Age of Sail, which made it satisfying to see names appear in this book that I've been reading about elsewhere. Any well-written tale about the history of discovery is beguiling to me--a window of understanding towards men and women whose innovations within the confines and context of their times and were able to change the course of world events.
Bown writes this book in the "romance of science" style, made famous in large part by scientific biographer Richard Holmes, which can be explored in his book "This Long Pursuit", in which he shares his journey in developing this biographic style since the 1960s.
Author Stephen Bown serves up an interesting survey of the problem of scurvy at sea over the centuries from the dawn of the Age of Sail, and three men in particular who made remarkable strides to identify and solve this vexing seafaring challenge that killed hundreds of thousands of sailors up until the mid-19th century.
The first, James Lind, a medical doctor from Scotland, conducted the world's first scientific study of scurvy on a ship called the Salisbury in 1747, where he served as ship's surgeon. Lind discovered that the juice from lemons and oranges were successful in restoring to health men with symptoms of scurvy on long ocean voyages. However, for a multitude of reasons, persuading the Royal Navy to act on his findings proved futile--due in large part to resource constraints and social and hierarchical pressures.
The second, famed English Captain James Cook, was tasked with experimenting with a cure for scurvy on his renowned expedition on the Endeavour to the south Pacific from 1768-1771. Famously, he lost no man to the dreaded disease. It was known that poor diet was the cause of the disease, but they had not figured out that it was a deficiency of vitamin C.
The third, Gilbert Blane, an English physician of high social standing, took Lind's and Cook's evidence and won audience and favor with the Lord of the Admiralty, finally persuading the Royal Navy to provision ships with enough ascorbic acid from lemons and oranges to virtually eradicate the malady.
I really enjoyed this book. I am delving deeper into characters and stories from the Age of Sail, which made it satisfying to see names appear in this book that I've been reading about elsewhere. Any well-written tale about the history of discovery is beguiling to me--a window of understanding towards men and women whose innovations within the confines and context of their times and were able to change the course of world events.
Bown writes this book in the "romance of science" style, made famous in large part by scientific biographer Richard Holmes, which can be explored in his book "This Long Pursuit", in which he shares his journey in developing this biographic style since the 1960s.