When was scurvy around

More than a century later, a learned man fulfilled that wish, with a text which earned him a place in scientific history. James Lind was the son of an Edinburgh merchant and became a medical apprentice in the city before joining the Royal Navy as a surgeon's mate in the late s. His service allowed him to observe the effects of scurvy at first hand.

In , on board HMS Salisbury, he carried out one of the first controlled clinical trials recorded in medical science. He took 12 men suffering from similar symptoms of scurvy, divided them into six pairs and treated them with remedies suggested by previous writers:. By the end of the week, those on citrus fruits were well enough to nurse the others. Dr Lind's "Treatise of the Scurvy", containing a celebrated review of literature on the disease, appeared in , by which time he was a practising physician in Edinburgh.

He prided himself that he had conquered a condition which "during the last war, proved a more destructive enemy, and cut off more valuable lives, than the united efforts of the French and Spanish arms".

But it was not until 42 years later that the Admiralty first issued an order for the distribution of lemon juice to sailors. Historians still debate why it did not act upon Dr Lind's discovery earlier. Source: British Dietetic Association. Jane Wickenden, from the Institute of Naval Medicine, said she believed it was partly because Dr Lind's treatise drew no clear conclusions. She said: "The account of the experiment only takes up four pages. The remaining pages deal with other treatments including fresh air and exercise.

Our bodies get around this issue with the help of enzymes, large protein molecules that kick-start and speed up specific chemical reactions, often making them occur millions of times faster than they would on their own. But our bodies sometimes need help making enzymes, and enzymes themselves sometimes need help doing their jobs. While enzymes speed up chemical reactions without being destroyed themselves, most vitamin-dependent reactions actually use up the vitamins.

It makes sense then that vitamin deficiencies cause problems because without adequate vitamins every enzymatic process that depends on those vitamins will come screeching to a stop. Collagen holds our tissues together; the word itself is derived from the Greek word for glue. Without collagen our bodies would come apart from within—hence the hemorrhaging, broken bones, and loose teeth of scurvy. We make collagen from its precursor, procollagen, with the help of enzymes. Enzymes are made up, as are all proteins, of long chains of amino acids—chemical molecules known as the building blocks of protein—folded into three-dimensional shapes.

Like keys that fit specific locks, enzymes are highly specific in what they react with, and this specificity is often indicated by their names: the suffix - ase means that a molecule is an enzyme, and the part before the - ase gives a hint as to what it does. Lactase, for example, is the enzyme that allows us to break down lactose, the sugar in milk. Terms that end in - ose typically refer to sugars.

Often this denaturing is permanent, which is one of the reasons our bodies constantly need to create new enzymes and therefore need a regular supply of vitamins. Supposed triggers lacked even that medical grounding: according to author Frances Rachel Frankenburg they ranged from fatigue and depression to homesickness, contagion, seawater, damp air, copper pans, tobacco, hot climate, cold climate, rats, heredity, contagion, too much fresh fruit whoops , too much exercise, too little exercise, sea air, salted meat, poor morals, and filth.

But even if the concept of vitamins had been familiar, vitamin C would be a tough one to figure out. Cabbage and broccoli have a lot. There are large amounts in liver and kidneys but not in muscle meat.

These days we associate vitamin C with citrus fruits. But this thriftiness came at a price: limes have only half as much vitamin C as lemons and oranges. Preparation matters, too. Vitamin C is destroyed by heat—not to mention cutting, bruising, exposure to air, and being cooked in copper pots. As a result the confusion over scurvy was so great that even James Lind, the person who gets the most credit for establishing that citrus fruit cures scurvy, overlooked his own discovery.

He took 12 sailors who were similarly sick with scurvy and divided them into six pairs. All the men ate the same food and lived in the same quarters on the ship; the only difference was their treatment. Lest that treatment not sound random enough, those sailors also got barley water treated with tamarinds and an occasional laxative dose of cream of tartar.

With the exception of the citrus fruit, which ran out in less than a week, Lind administered the treatments for 14 days. DM Scurvy James Lind. Because of this experiment Lind is often given historical credit for recognizing citrus as a definitive cure for scurvy. True to its sweeping title, the book, which he dedicated to Anson, ended up being some pages long. Sure, the oranges and lemons had cured scurvy, but the sailors who got the cider seemed a little better, too.

This is plausible since the unrefined hard cider Lind distributed might have contained a little of the vitamin. And so rather than dwell on citrus, Lind moved on to describe his own humour-inspired explanation of scurvy: that it was actually a digestive disease caused by blocked sweat glands. Unfortunately, by the time Lind published the third edition of his book in , he had completely lost sight of what we now consider his most important observations. While Lind did still think lemon juice might be effective against scurvy—he thought it might clear out the blocked sweat glands, especially if mixed with wine and sugar—he included so many disclaimers that his argument was hardly convincing.

Nonetheless, progress was gradually made. In a physician named Gilbert Blane convinced the British Royal Navy to issue some form of lemon juice to its sailors.

These common appearances are, large discolored spots over the whole surface of the body; swelled legs; putrid gums; and above all, an extra-ordinary lassitude over the whole body, especially after any exercise, however inconsiderable: and this lassitude at least degenerates into a proneness to swoon, on the least exertion of strength, or even on the least motion.

This disease is likewise usually attended with a strange dejection of spirits; and with shiverings, tremblings, and a disposition to be seized with the most dreadful terrors on the slightest accident. Anson headed northwest until he reached the latitude of Juan Fernandez, but could not calculate his longitude. This delay cost Anson two weeks of sailing time, in which eighty of his men died from scurvy.

The fleet eventually did meet at Juan Fernandez; however, only four ships managed to round Cape Horn. The fleet then sailed to the coast of South America, where it took a number of Spanish vessels and raided the port of Payta.

Soon after departure, the ships were plagued by calm winds and sail failures. Soon, the crews were so depleted that Anson consolidated his men into one vessel, scuttling the other. In the first few days, thirty of the sick died from scurvy, while the rest slowly recovered.

Anson then directed his ship westward and bound for England. Once Anson arrived back in Britain, he was hailed as a hero. The American Civil War illustrated, in yet another example, that scurvy was land as well as a sea problem. Prior to the Civil War, scurvy was the most common disease in the U. During the Civil War, scurvy rates continually increased, from less than.

Scurvy also had secondary health effects during the Civil War. Since scurvy effects the healing of wounds, the disease led to increased mortality rates for those wounded in combat. One surgeon, when considering the increased death rates of wounded, later remarked that. Prisons for captured soldiers were extremely prone to scurvy deaths due to the lack of proper nutrition and harsh conditions. After a scurvy outbreak among Union troops during the Peninsula campaign of , the public became aware of the disease and the general problem of proper nutrition in the armies.

Send him an onion. Chronic diarrhea and dysentery were also blamed on scurvy. Overall, it is apparent that the government and common citizens were aware of both scurvy and foods that could prevent it. However, logistical problems, conditions during warfare, and cost made scurvy an enormous problem for both the Union and Confederacy during the American Civil War.

The war, however, seems to be the last conflict greatly effected by scurvy as food preservation and logistics improved greatly in the coming decades. As noted above, modern cases of scurvy are rare in developed countries. This section of the paper describes the unique combinations of condition that led to tremendous death toll during the age of sail.

First, the inscription and recruitment processes used meant that sailors were often weak and malnourished prior to even setting sail. Maintaining sufficient crews for the large number of naval vessels proved to be difficult for countries. Vitamin C deficiency and scurvy was hastened in the age of sail because of the rigorous working conditions for sailors. The diet of sailors during the age of sail was obviously the main factor in the plight of scurvy.

As Vitamin C can not be produced internally by humans, it must be ingested through the diet. Therefore, a close examination of the diet of sailors is needed to show why scurvy took such a stranglehold on the navies of Europe. The food supplies brought aboard ships during the Age of Sail varied little between generations and nations. Prior to a ships sailing from port, food supplies would be loaded onto the ship in large oak barrels and burlap sacks.

Maintaining the vast logistical networks required to support large, worldwide navies proved a formidable task for the countries of Europe.

A typical weekly ration for a sailor included [] :. In addition, sailor rations were sometimes augmented by raisins, dried pears, dried apples, and barley meal.

Even though ships were supplied with food supplies intended to last lengthy periods of time, food rotting and spoilage became an enormous problem on long voyages. Ships from the Age of Sail were constructed almost entirely of wood for speed and buoyancy. Meat was particularly susceptible to spoilage. The preparation process added to the saltiness of the meat. The giant wheels of cheese brought on board ships also lacked longevity. As can be discerned from above, the overall food quality on ships during the age of sail was quite poor, especially compared to food today.

Quotes from sailors of the time evidence their dissatisfaction with the food on board. Overall, the food aboard ships was of poor nutritional value. It was prone to spoilage, often inedible, and wholly void of vitamin C.

In hindsight, it is obvious that poor diet would cause scurvy and other diet deficiencies to be tremendous problems during the age of sail.

As noted above, conditions aboard ships were dark and damp. In addition, the ships were overcrowded, making conditions worse and allowing diseased to spread even more quickly. During the age of sail, European navies provided their larger ships with a surprisingly large compliment of medical specialists.

European navies also intermittently used hospital ships. Overall, a number of factors led to the huge death toll from scurvy during the age of sail. The system of impressments and recruitment led to a navy full of sailors in already poor health. The Scientific History of Scurvy. After the voyage of Sir George Anson, a golden age of scurvy research began in Britain. While the proposed solutions for scurvy may seem ludicrous from a modern viewpoint, the writings of scientists during the age of sail must be viewed within the framework of contemporaneous scientific methods and abilities.

During the late 17 th and early 18 th centuries, European medical thought was dominated by the writings of Hippocrates. The body of man has in itself blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile; these make up the nature of his body, and through these he ffels pain or enjoys health.

Mow he enjoys the most perfect health when these elements are duly proportioned to one another in respect of compounding power and bulk, and when they are perfectly mingled. Despite the fact that nowadays we have easy access to fruit and vegetables the nutritional intake from these is much less than before due to aggressive farming.

This plus the tendency for microwaved and processed food with lower nutritional value means levels of scurvy are on the rise. To find more about vitamin C supplements please click here. The History of Vitamin C and Scurvy.