ceived this information,
having formerly been employed in the navy, was the better able to judge
of the disorder and to cure it. Besides the deficiency of herbs, he
observed that the wards were foul and crowded, the house damp (from a
moat that surrounded it) and that the bounds allotted for taking the air
were so small, and in wet weather so sloughy, that the men seldom went
out. He added, that a representation having been made, he had been
empowered to furnish the prisoners with roots and greens for boiling in
their soup, and to quarter the sick in a neighbouring village in a dry
situation, with liberty to go out for air and exercise; and that by these
means they had all quickly recovered. It is probable, that the scurvy
sooner appeared among these strangers, from their having been taken at
sea, and consequently more disposed to the disease. My informer further
acquainted me, that in the lower and wetter parts of that county, where
some of his practice lay, he had now and then met with slighter cases of
the scurvy among the common people; such, he said, as lived the whole
winter on salted bacon, without fermented liquors, greens, or fruit, a
few apples excepted; but, he remarked, that in the winters following a
plentiful growth of apples, those peasants were visibly less liable to
the disorder.

I have dwelt the longer on this part of my subject, as I look upon the
knowledge of the nature and cause of the scurvy to be an essential step
towards improving the means of prevention and cure. And I am persuaded,
after mature reflection, and the opportunities I have had of conversing
with those who, to much sagacity, had joined no small experience in
nautical practice, that upon an examination of the several articles,
which have either been of old approven, or have of late been introduced
into the navy, it will be evident, that though these means may vary in
form, and in their mode of operating; yet they all some way contribute
towards preventing or correcting putrefaction, whether of the air in the
closer parts of a ship, of the meats, of the water, of the clothes and
bedding, or of the body itself. And if in this inquiry (which may be made
by the way, whilst we take a review of the principal articles of
provision, and other methods used by Captain Cook to guard against the
scurvy) I say, if in this inquiry it shall appear, that the notion of a
septic or putrid origin, is not without foundation, it will be no small
encourag