Chapter XIII

_That Bleeding is proper for a Patient, who is apt to be sick in a
Morning._

The first Person I heard remark this Error, was an old Physician, who, though he had but little Practice, on Account of his travelling Disposition, was nevertheless a Man of great Speculation. He had been three Times over the Alps on Foot; and was in many Respects, a curious Man.

The Company did not seem to take much Notice of his Remark, because he certainly was an Oddity; however, if we may believe the Accounts of those Physicians who have lately wrote upon the Scurvy, the Old Gentleman was in the right.

It seems, that among all the dreadful Symtoms, which accompany the Scurvy, a fainting Sickness in a Morning, is the most certain Indication of it. Many, upon Application for Relief, in that Case, have been treated as Consumptive; when, upon a more strict Enquiry, they have been found to have a violent Scurvy, and have been restored to Health by Mineral Waters. If that is the Case, and fainting Sickness in a Morning, is a Sympton of the Scurvy, Bleeding cannot be proper, as nothing is more likely to encrease the Fainting, than Phlebotomy.

I met with an Author somewhere, who reasoned upon the Subject, in this Manner. He alledged, that the Cause of Fainting in the Scurvy, was owing to such a Relaxation in the Blood Vessels, that they had not Power to perform their Operations; and by that Means, were unable to give their Contents, that quick, spirited Motion, which is required, to keep them in the upper Parts of the Body; and that, by the Blood being suffered to fall down to the lower Parts of the Body, the Head, Heart, and other Vital Parts, were left destitute of that Fluid, which is so necessary for the Preservation of Life. This he proves, by the sudden Change which is caused in Patients, afflicted with the Scurvy, on altering their Position. If, says he, you cause a Patient to be raised up in his Hammock, though before he was in very good Spirits (a Thing peculiar to the Sea Scurvy, even in the last Stages of it, at Times) he will faint immediately; if you lay him in an inclined Posture, he will recover again. And he gives this Reason for it, viz. that the Blood settles downwards, in the same Manner, as Humours do in a Dropsy, when the Patient is erect; and that it returns again, when he is supine; and by that Means, it re-invigorates those Parts, which were distressed by its Absence. If this is the Case, and the learned Doctor's Position is true, to take away that little Blood, which is left behind, in the upper Parts of the Body, on a Scorbutic Patient's getting into an erect Posture, or rising in a Morning, is to deprive him of all the Nourishment which his Vital Parts contain for their Preservation, and seems to be a ready way to dispatch him.

It would be prudent therefore, in an Apothecary, before he lets his Patient blood, when he is taken sick in a Morning, to examine him well all over, in order to find out those Eruptions, which denote a Scorbutic Habit of Body. For if he is ignorant of the Patient's Disorder, and lets him blood, though he may survive this Operation, he will most likely have such a Fainting, as to amount to a Fit next Morning; upon which, in his Fright and Hurry, he will let him blood again, thinking it an Apoplexy.

I hope the Physical Gentlemen, will not take it amiss that I interfere thus with their Profession; only, as I have known some Accidents happen in this Case, by not regular-bred Practioners, I hope they will pardon the Liberty, which is here taken.

If any Person should here object, that I have confounded the Land Scurvy with the Sea Scurvy, without making any Distinction between the two Disorders; I answer, that though they may be different in some Respects, yet they are very near related; and moreover, that with Respect to the Faintings in a Morning, they are the same, and the Faintings proceed from the same Cause in both. Their Causes may be different, and yet their Effects be very similar; or, 'till all the Causes of the Sea Scurvy are clearly found out, it is not possible to say, that they do not both proceed from the same Cause. For I suppose it will be allowed, that the Land Scurvy generally proceeds from too high Living, from salt Diet, from too much animal Food, from too little Exercise, &c. Now let us examine into the Sea Scurvy. They are subject to these Inconveniences in a greater Degree at Sea than they are at Land: In the first Place, in long Voyages they have nothing but salt Provisions; then they have no Greens; all animal Diet, except a little dried Biscuit; and then though it must be allowed, that in a Gale of Wind they have Trouble enough to work the Ship, and by that Means receive proper Exercise, yet at other Times, when they have fallen in with the Trade Winds, they sometimes have no Employ for Months together; and (by the bye) any one, who takes Notice of Voyages, will find that it is at those Times, when the Scurvy does the most Mischief. It is then that the Ship becomes almost a Prison. For when they go up aloft, the Air, by it's Friction, braces their Nerves, clears away the bad Vapours, creates an Appetite, and strengthens their Joints; but when a Ship is going before a fine Gale of Wind, so steady as the Trade Winds are, the Men have no Employ, and having no Occasion to go aloft, either loll upon Deck in the Day-Time, or sleep in their Hammocks at Night.

We do not insist here, that there is no Difference between the Land and Sea Scurvy, or that there are no other Reasons for the Sea Scurvy than are here mentioned. We know that some other Causes are assigned, as the being so long absent from Land, and thereby receiving none of those Vapours, which, coming out of the Earth, may be necessary for the Preservation of a Land Animal, &c. and these Causes likewise may correspond with the former, here mentioned.

We shall now beg Leave to offer a little Scheme, for hindering the Progress of the Sea Scurvy, which however we do not insist upon, having no great Opinion of any Proposition, which we start new of our own.

What I would propose is, some Help or Relief to a Ship, when she is on a long Voyage, and sailing before a Trade Wind, and finds the Scurvy begin to attack her. In order to which, it will be necessary to say something concerning the Nature of that Element called the Air.

Air is an elastic Fluid, as has been observed before, and is subject to an easy Motion of it's Parts amongst themselves, as all Fluids are. It is subject to Currents and Eddies, in the same Manner as Water. A Current of Air is commonly known by the Name of Wind; and the greater Quantity of this Air or Wind, an Animal who has Organs for the Reception of it, and who cannot live without it a Moment; the more free Passage (I say) a Current of Air has, by such an Animal, in Health and Motion, the more wholesome it is for him. Now, I will endeavour to prove, that a Ship under Sail, before a Trade Wind, has but little Change of Situation in this Current, notwithstanding her Motion is so swift, with regard to her Change of Place upon the Surface of the Earth.

We will endeavour to explain our Meaning, by a Cork swimming down a current of Water.

If any one throws a Cork into a Stream of Water, he will find that the Cork will be attended, during its Progress down the Stream, by the same Particles of the Fluid, which it happened to fall upon, when it first set off; notwithstanding, it changes its Position, with regard to the Surface of the Earth. This is the Case with a Ship, sailing before the Wind; she receives nothing near the Quantity of Air, upon her Sides and between her Decks, in a full Wind, that she does when the Wind is upon her Beam, or on one Side of her; which may be demonstrated by a second Experiment upon the Cork in the Water.

If any one takes a Cork and ties a long Thread to it, and throws it into a Stream, he will find, that the Cork, when he draws it sideways along the Stream, changes its Place in the Water every Inch he draws it. This is so plain, that there is no Occasion to say any more about it; and we humbly apprehend, that the Case would be the same, with regard to a Ship which is sailing before the Wind, or going down a Current of Air. We do alledge, that the fresh Air running between the Decks of a Ship, would sweeten and clear away the bad Vapours and Filth from the Men in her, as much more in the Position of a Side-Wind, as a Stream of Water would wash more Dirt off a Cork, if it was drawn sideways along it by a Thread, than if it was suffered to swim down by itself. For the Motion of a good Ship, when she has all her Sails up in a moderate Gale before the Wind, is very near, if not quite as swift as the Wind itself.

Therefore, what I would advance here is, that as the Sea Scurvy in long Voyages proceeds as much from the Confinement of a Ship, as from any other Cause, may it not be deemed reasonable, that any Scheme, which serves to make a more free Current of Air through a Ship, may be a great Hindrance to the Progress of the Scurvy?

The Scheme is only this plain and easy one, viz. that when a Ship is upon a long Voyage, before a Trade Wind, the Captain once a Day should give Orders, to lay her upon a Side-Wind, or a Quarters Wind, if he thinks it more safe, for about a League or two, during which Tack, he may open the Port-holes of her Windward Side; and after going a League or two in that Manner, she might be tacked about and laid upon her other Side; and by doing this, he would sweeten every Corner of the Ship, and at the same Time exercise his Men. Now, though this Practice would retard him a little in his Voyage, would it not be better to lose a little Time, and bring a Ship's Crew Home in tolerable good Plight, than to have half of them dead, before they get to the End of their Voyage? I am far from insisting, that this Scheme would answer the End; all that I know is, that if I was Captain of a Ship, I would try; and if it answered no End, it would but be leaving it off afterwards. And I hope the Sea Gentlemen will not be angry at this little Essay, as it is wrote for the Sake of their Health and Constitutions.

They know very well, that Wind travels much slower than is imagined by the Generality of Landmen; which brings me to another Error, (viz.)