Christopher Lloyd [edited by] The Health of Seamen Selections from the Works of Dr. James Lind, Sir Gilbert Blane and Dr. Thomas Trotter. , London: Navy Records Society, 1965.

Illustrated by Plates. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/No DJ. 8vo Quarter bound, Blue spine, with bright gilt titling gilt, over white cloth boards with gilt decoration.320 pages plus list of publications of the Navy Records Society and list of members for 1965. Editor's introduction to each section, index and three b&w plates. Clean and tight. This book differs from the usual pattern of the volumes published by the Navy Records Society in that its contents are selected from printed, not manuscript material. There are precedents among the publications of the Society for such a volume, but the particular reason for the present selection is that many of the works of Dr. James Lind, Sir Gilbert Blane and Dr. Thomas Trotter, from which our selection is made, are almost as rare and inaccessible as manuscript materials. None of the great libraries possesses copies of all the editions, and even the British Museum does not possess the first edition of two of these works. Nothing goes out of date as quickly as a medical textbook, yet nothing gives a more realistic view of the conditions under which men lived (and died) in the eighteenth century. The selection has been made primarily for the benefit of the student of naval history; but it is also hoped that it will prove of interest to those concerned with medical history, because the Navy was the earliest organisation to attempt what we should call a public health service. Not only do the conditions of hygiene here described afford examples to the epidemiologist, but the efforts made by these physicians form the foundations of preventive medicine. Indeed, one of Lind's essays remained the standard work on tropical medicine for over fifty years. For the study of conditions afloat in the last half of the eighteenth century, such writings provide admirable evidence on such subjects as the manning of the fleet, living conditions on board, the ventilation and construction of ships and the victualling of the Navy-with its consequences. The medical history of the wars which they describe proves the truth of Lind's observation that "the number of seamen who died by shipwreck, capture, fire, famine or sword are but inconsiderable in respect of such as are destroyed by the ship diseases and by the maladies of intemperate climates". In spite of Nelson's dictum that "the great thing in all military services is health", the subject has been largely neglected by naval historians. In Laird Clowes's standard eight-volume history, Lind's name is only mentioned once and then it is misspelled. Yet the advice of the father of nautical medicine (which had to be repeated by his disciples Blane and Trotter on account of Admiralty obscurantism) certainly saved the lives of untold thousands of men. It is for such reasons, rather than for the purely medical aspects of surgery, diagnosis or cure, that these proposals for preventive medicine, and these descriptions of how seamen actually lived and fed, are now made available to a wider public. (Book ref. 129322)  £24.00

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