The Sun.
London, England, 1816-01-12 00:00:00

To Sir GIIortERT BLA NE, Burt. M.D.

Jamiary 10. ISM
:SIR,—.T. have perused your pamphlet '' Ou the
He"kth or the ?Navy," with coosiderable inte,rest.
and reathittition ;and you allowust inc to say,
that it is ‘..ith 'no ;midi surprise," I peiceivc Oita
in Your " lii iorictil Sketch, of the knowp powersi
and use ..ot the Citr!c Acid in his Majesty's.. Navy,
as a- renietly for„ a,id pieveotive'frr'lhe 'Scarq,
and-of the, eircurnstances•which led to -its paring:
been issued by Government as a general 911/Ipir,--,
you have ,entirely omitted to . mention the use
made .of it, and with what beneficial effects it:
was.used hy,myself,- whet I was Phytician to. his
:11ale‘ty's Fleet in the I.‘lediteeranean in the year
17)3, 'then under'the command of Admiral Lord
Hood, for the use of which, at
„illy express sitg-
gestion; a very liberal. and general supply ,was
istied, and the same system, With, the same Galli-,
tary t•tfects, wit.; continued under - the successive,
.commands of Admirals Lord Ilothain, Sir Ilyde
Parker; and Lord Si. Vincent. I cannot, I say,
but express my surprise at .4 his. remarkable omis-
sion ; because, tr-mi your o(ltcial situation at that '
time, being Member. of the Board of -Sick and
Woundeo, you could not be ignorant of this Fact :
the nulny Bills drawn by the respective Com -
tnauders tot the Commissioners of. that lloard for
Lemons issued to the Crews, afforded ample proof
at. the large iise-that had been made .of this vale-. '
able 'specific, ~ml of your knowledge of that pray-
tice. Yet you say, " that in-the year I 60(), Com-
modore Lancaster-sailed from England oils the 2tl
of April, with three other ships.; They arrived in.
Saldanna Bay on the Ist of August, the Commo-,
tiore's crew being in perfect health from the ad-'
Ministration of three table spoonfuls-of lemon-'
juice every morning to each of the men i Where-
as, the other ships were so sickly, that they were
unmanageable for want of hands, and the Com-
mander wOw obliged to send-men on board to
take itt their sails and hoist our their boats." - •
-This quotation, you sayi is taken from Pv-
ehiti's Pilgrim, Vol. J', p.. 149. a work, I have
never _sgen ; -but, as you remar)c, '' is a striking
example of the difficulties, and delays, which ob-
struct. and. retard the progress and adoption of,
practical truth.'' . ,

•
In 'addition, Sir,. to this certain proof above-
mentioned of-your knowledge of my cl4im to the'
introduction °title use of the Citric Acid into the
Fleet, permit nie to remind you of what I never
can inrgrt that when, upon my return front the
Mediterranean in. 1799,-1 waited upon the Board,
of w hich you was then a Member at -Srtnertet-'
house,, and the Chairman (Dr. Blair) expressed
his surprise to me, that so ,great an expellee
' should: have been incurred, for fruits and. vege—
tables ; I replied, that without such supply; the
fleet
.would have been ,non-etfective.' The ex-
, perimeut which you sate to have been so success
fully made in 'his Majesty's ship Suffolk in 1794,
in consequence of which upon the Report of the.
Medical Board, the general supply, of lemons,was
issued to the Navy, was nearly ten months after
lemons butt ,been,prgsceibed
.4y me as. Physician:
• to the Fleet, and with What suctess, if other proofs
'Were wanting, -may appear front the ivilotritig.
. Certificate of the venerable LtArd Hood, of whose,
patronage and friendship to have been thought,
deserving, will always be: amongst the greatest,
satisfactions of Jny life
" Ida lierebx certify, that in the Summer of Ma, when
his' Majesty's la leer in the Mediterranean, under my emu,
matid, wax greatly attlictcd with Stitrey, Dr. John Harness,
tht Physician to the Fleet, very-Strongly recommended tofpni
the use of Lemon Juice as st,eure" and preventative of it ; in
canse9nenca of which, .1 ordered the respective ships to. lie
constantly &upplied with Lemons, was haPpy to find, that
within six loonths, the ditorder was efrectuaily eradicated,
and the crews of linglitijesty's Fleet perfectly healtliy.-
to Ciro* ender toy bawl, at Path, Nuvervber 3, 1515."

" HOOD."

When Sir,joiii).Jervis, now Lard St. Voteent,
November 179 t); socccvticd to tJie conuattitti of

ti.a: Iltet, 5:n.1i;1 ; the shipis, cdrnpanies were en-
alilel to keep almost constantly at sea, he coin
Pril'ented me by 311Yilig, that be considered! my
• intrinbietion of the general and liberal supply‘of.
lntons to thecrews, as' the greatest thing ever
1
• ilOrie for, the .presehiation
,of the health :of our
seance t. • Alia it) a letter, which in Clarke's'Life
at Lord NelSon, Vol. J. 'll:l,i_te. 339., we find ad-
,l dreSsed by Lord St. Vincent to the Hon: R. Wal-
pole',the British Minister at Lisbon, dated 21st De-
cember, riga, be, Mentions " the British fleet
having kept tlie sea ldoger than was ever expe..
rieneed in turd Naval' history of :Europe."
.I %sill mention but one testimony more, not in-,
feridr to' anv 1 liale'y_et ' brought forward. That
of, Lard Nelson, Who, as appears tram Clarke's'
History of his. Lire, V6l. I. page 211, writes lima.
to Captain Locker:a:tied off Minorca, June 18th,
1795: " upon the while, we are. more comforta-
• ble`ilian the lioine'ficet ; and our people are very
healthy. The scurvy i$ noe known:" And were it'
nut that it migla have an air of 'vanity, I could'
record what that great man said to me, in the
ivarttith of his heart, apcni r this very subject,'
when he took leave of, me, on going tar amidst'
r time to his great command. . .
1 n „,
'fese facts, and these testimonies, are strong
and cogent ; and 1 thildi it due to myself to recalf
them to your mind, im vindicationof the state-
ment 1 have made in my printed Letter addressed
to Lord Mehille, on the great benefits experi-
cowl by his Maiesty's fleet,
.from the' introdoc-
lion of the " Cittic Acid" by we, as a pre:mode:ace
of Scori•, I 5114 he acquitted, I trust, b`y all
who know me, of any view to sordid :inverest, af•
any period, or inider• any circumstance of my, lite.
But I cannot be indifferent to lair fame while I
live, or posthumous reputation'. • Therefore it is:.
-that in thus publicly addressing you, I make my
appeal to facts, which. I trust you will have the
candour to acknowledge to he incontrovertible ;
and that the claims which I hive made in my
Pamphlet to the introditction of the fuse of '4 Ci-
tric Acid" into f,is Majesty Navy, having truth
far its basis, stands upon a solid and sound foul).
dation.

am, Sir,
Your, obedient, bumble Servant,
JOHN tiAltNEss, M. D.
. Metilea! Commissioner of his Majesty's Nary,

4. Letter to the flight /Am: LORD llsr.vlLLe,
FiTat Lord of the Admiralty, 41/4.c. 4c. on the Use
Citric Acid in the Royal Navy—By JOHN
HARNESS. M. D. Medical Commissioner of his
Majesty's Navy.

"MY L0111),—In addressing your Lord9hip, as
the. head of the department of Government to
Which the . intmeili4te superintendance of every
object connected. with the naval branch of the
public service has been confided, I feel assured.of
your attention to the following observations ; -for
I'believe it will
,be generally iteltnowledged, that
few objects are of fimig'mer ioterest to a maritime
state than the means of preserving the health of
its seamen. ~rota the nature of their Mtn, the
necessity for crowding numbers .into a confined
space, and other adventitious circumstances of a
sea life, are peculiarly liable to CliSta§C; and it is
painful coateUlplale htp: raveges by which, at
different periods of our naval history; the crews
of our snips of war have been wasted, and our
best planned enterprises mole of ,no avail, by this
fatal and once Common cause of failure,. In the
catalogue of disorders, 'by which our ships- have
at times been converted into floating hospitals,
none was ever more' direful in its effects, or 'more
extensive in its mischief, than the scurvy. ..
Wheo I. first entered the strvice, in 1776,
this dreadful d:sease 'vas generally prevalent 'in
or fleets, and my attention was early directed to
the means of opposing its ravages with effect,.,--:
1 had the'opportuuity, about, this,time, while as-
sistant-surgeon lit the Naval Hospital at Antigua)
of remit klng the diseases of the iohabitants of
the klamt ; and, .on applying tnyieli, Ott my re,
tent to England, to the stmidy of Dr. Pi iestley's,
and the Hon. Mr, Cavendish's philosophiCal expe-.
riments on air, noccurred to we, that the thickeh-
ing (it the ligaments awl integuments of the joints
of the hands and feet, symptoms almost universal
amongst the European infiabitaiits of the %Vest
Indies, and frequently in sit great a degree as to
produce a perfect etiehilosis of those purts, were
results: of a
,superoxygenated system, and-origin-
ated in tifieir indulgence in the use of hue or
lemon juice, with which their common beverage
was ever highly acidulated. Contrasting, there-
fore, these effects with the opposite symptoms of
complabits putrescent nature, incident to
seamen, I was led to the intereoce, that their
diseases. were inmineed by time hmspitation of air de-.
prived of its vivifying principle, the debilitating
effects of which can be vouched by every 'person,
who may have visited or inhabited the between-
decks of a m An'of war. Kvery practitioner of obi
servation is aware, 4liat the blood of patients,
einifined ti; the inhalation .of air deprived of its
proper proportion of oxygen, is of a hark
InOIIS appearance, of a tinality not posseasing'the
power of linperting the tiecessaiy continuity el-
thee to the soft or more solid parts of our frame,
conseque.utlY, incapable of affording due
nutriment to the general system. Hence, with
vatietiti labouring underthis ,
have found it necessary, in my praetice as a
naval surgeon, to perform a second operation on
'their limbs; the coats of the arteries being
:nearly in a gelatinous state; and incapable of
'sustaining the pressnre Of a ligature erect which,
although 1 do not recollect to have seen it noticed
by any author, who has written on tlie-scarvy,
must doebtlese hove, frequently occurred to
the observation of many mitt viii practitioners
besides myself. It became a desideratam, th'ere-
fore) to discover the Melilla, of cominteractiog this
tendency to putrescency, and tliese, from the ob•
servations' before Slated, 1 had not a tlottht
.tvould
be foinutin time liberal use of Citric Acid.
" Chi the breaking out of the late war, itt 1793,
1-accompanied my Lord Hood, fo the 441.114trraT
neat), us Physician to the Fleet ; and scarceirbad
our operations commenced, by the blockade of
Toulon: before the scurvy made its appearance,
and titreateneil, by. its rapid eirects on the crews
Of uewlt.mauued fleet, tea cuturel the übabdpu: