CONQUERING SCURVY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20088, 27 October 1928, Page 5 (Supplement)

CONQUERING SCURVY.

COOK AS HEALTHi OFFICER

To Captain Cook's enduring credit must be put an effort to check the ravages of scurvy, for centuries the enemy most feared by the sailor undertaking long voyages—an effort, too, successful m a marked degree. He took hardships lightly himself, and the most unpalatable food was eaten by him as part of the rough treatment awaiting in those days every man daring to invade the broad domains of King Neptune. He expected from his men an equally ready acceptance of the rules of the game as it then had to be played, and, as a rule', they took things as uncomplainingly as ho. But his first voyage proved that there were dangers in " salt junk" and " hard tack" which must bo met if future success in his expeditions was to be fully won; and he met them so well that, when his career closed, it was found that throughout his 1000 days of voyaging ho had saved from scurvy 117 of his men for every one that succumbed.

Wallis, one of predecessors in Pacific discovery, had lost his men tragically through this scourge. He tried many things to overcome it. inegar nnd mustard wore served out—as much as the men would take; wine was given instead of spirits; bottled soup was boiled with the dried peas and oatmeal; tho berths were kopt clean; tho hammocks were frequently washed; the water was kept wholesome by ventilation; every part of tho decks was regularly swabbed with vinegar; but scurvy continued to take heavy toll. Only when fresh vegetables and fruit wero available ashore did the men recover.Practising Physician. On his first long voyage in the Pacific, Cook seems to have taken few precautions, if any, and during its course, save for tho six woeks from the Horn to Tahiti, he was seldom many days from land. It was the outbreak of sickness occasioned at Batavia, op tho return voyage—the whole company was affected by the heat and the noisome atmosphere—that stirred him to action; forty were badly stricken; twenty-three of them died, including the first lieutenant, the surgeon, tho astronomer, the sailmaker, the carpenter, the cook, tho corporal of marines. It was a frightful loss out of eighty. Cook was so painfully impressed that henceforth he determined to bo his crews' health officer. To his sailing plans ho added details ensuring frequent opportunities of getting fresh vegetable foods—it was long before the days of wholesome preserving and canning—and mado tho prevention of scurvy as much a matter of care as his prosecution of tho exploring enterprise in hand. Tho next voyage was in this respect, as in others, a triumph. Ho had blazed a new trail in preventive medicine. Not yet ii a!} discovered in this particular field of research, but ho led the practical campaign to wonderful victory.