Sea-Sickness.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 878, 28 December 1888, Page 4

Sea-Sickness.

* I have long ago,’ says a correspondent in the English Mechanic, ‘formed the conclnsion that this very inconvenient malady arises from hereditary predisposition, or why should one family on board the same vessel be proof to the mal de mer and another prostrated for days, and even weeks together ? During my many long voyages, from childhood to sexagenarian years, I have always noticed the same fact. Doubtless there are spme old sailors who are contributors to the E. M who can corroborate this statement ; moreover, persons suffering from consumption aannot be seasick ] A lady friend of, mine, in its worst stage, constantly expeotorating blood, went to sea on a long, rough, voyage, returned home again, and aotually survived the destructive symptoms two whole years ! Here is a comparative instance of heredity illustrative enough of my assertion. I could quote scores of‘such. My mother and all her children never felt the slightest nausea ou going to sea ; she attained the good age of ninety, while my wife is a real martyr, and will always be such ; her father, mother, and sisters equally so. On a long voyage of seven weeks in a slow sailing.ship my wife was more dead than alive, and when we entered the smooth water of a river mouth, at the end of that term, her symptoms were severe as ever. “The Bmell of the ship,” said she, “was the cause.’ Once on a steam voyage three clever surgeons (passengers on board) each tried hiß skill in turn without any benefit to the same patient. In fine weather a canvas berth was put up for her reception, resulting in a mitigation of suffering. Bad weather necessitated the removal of this shelter, and the inmate’s retreat to her cabin, unable to stir or to take solid food. In subsequent voyages I always carried a Btook of Brand’s extract of beef and a few dozen of half-pints dry champagne, as bottled for invalids. The meat extract is made into a thick soup—a very little only for each meal. A siphon tap is adjusted to the wine bottle, a dessert spoonful or so being administered after the occasional sip of soup. I found this treatment useful in strengthening the stomach, though the greater portion of eaoh dose was ejected. Still, a little, and that suooesßively, must have been retained, and supplied nourishment to the body during the term of two or three weeks from land to land. During a later voyage, I bethought me of the then new anesthetic chloral, and administered fifteen grains experimentally on going into the steamship, our cabin being secured early, as far from the screw machinery as possible. A few hours’ sound sleep, as we went hot to sea, resulted from thto’ draught, 1 bat its nauseous flavour displeased the lady, and I , did not repeat the doße—a dangerous modi-

cine, too, on an empty atomaoh. I have heard and read of many nostrums and specifics ; excepting the ice bag applied to the Bpinal region, I do not oonsider any one of them worth a trial. Palliatives, not curatives, exist. Here is my advice to travellers merely crossing the Channel: —Forty-eight hours before embarkation take a strong dose of castor oil ; when its aotion i 3 over, take nutritious soups, and biscuit ad libitum. Three or four hours before going to sea, take a substantial meal of the same, and then, before starting (half an hour previously), a sleeping dose of chloral, proscribed by your medical adviser only ; turn into your berth before the ship is in motion, and I think you will have a quiet passage in all weathers. In the old days of sailing across tbe ocean, I have known death ensue over prolonged seasickness in cases of debilitated constitutions seeking health in a homeward voyage. I remember, too, on an outward one of three and a half months’ duration our ship’s doctor wa3 in perpetual attendance on two youngsters, who nearly slipped through his fingers from exhaustion. Last summer my wife, thinking she had outgrown her old infirmity, went out for a cruise in a friend’s steam yacht from North Berwiok on a rough day, and was very soon prostrated and sent ashore. Some persons never attain immunity from the disorder. My daughter from infancy has delighted in stormy seas, while my three boys get slight seasoning attaoks, soon over.’