Scurvy: How a Surgeon, a Mariner, and a Gentlemen Solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age of Sail By Stephen R. Bown

Audio Book Scurvy: How a Surgeon, a Mariner, and a Gentlemen Solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age of Sail with Free EASY Reading Download Now!

Kindle Store,Kindle eBooks,Medical eBooks Scurvy: How a Surgeon, a Mariner, and a Gentlemen Solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age of Sail Stephen R. Bown

4,2

Related Ebook :

Audio Book Scurvy: How a Surgeon, a Mariner, and a Gentlemen Solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age of Sail with Free EASY Reading Download Now!

Scurvy took a terrible toll in the Age of Sail, killing more sailors than were lost in all sea battles combined. The threat of the disease kept ships close to home and doomed those vessels that ventured too far from port. The willful ignorance of the royal medical elite, who endorsed ludicrous medical theories based on speculative research while ignoring the life-saving properties of citrus fruit, cost tens of thousands of lives and altered the course of many battles at sea. The cure for scurvy ranks among the greatest of human accomplishments, yet its impact on history has, until now, been largely ignored. From the earliest recorded appearance of the disease in the sixteenth century, to the eighteenth century, where a man had only half a chance of surviving the scourge, to the early nineteenth century, when the British conquered scurvy and successfully blockaded the French and defeated Napoleon, Scurvy is a medical detective story for the ages, the fascinating true story of how James Lind (the surgeon), James Cook (the mariner), and Gilbert Blane (the gentleman) worked separately to eliminate the dreaded affliction. Scurvy is an evocative journey back to the era of wooden ships and sails, when the disease infiltrated every aspect of seafaring life: press gangs "recruit" mariners on the way home from a late night at the pub; a terrible voyage in search of riches ends with a hobbled fleet and half the crew heaved overboard; Cook majestically travels the South Seas but suffers an unimaginable fate. Brimming with tales of ships, sailors, and baffling bureaucracy, Scurvy is a rare mix of compelling history and classic adventure story.

At this time of writing, The Mobi Scurvy: How a Surgeon, a Mariner, and a Gentlemen Solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age of Sail has garnered 9 customer reviews with rating of 5 out of 5 stars. Not a bad score at all as if you round it off, it’s actually a perfect TEN already. From the looks of that rating, we can say the Mobi is Good TO READ!

Audio Book Scurvy: How a Surgeon, a Mariner, and a Gentlemen Solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age of Sail with Free EASY Reading!

It was the fortuitous Gentleman who made all the difference, a lucky stroke quite outside frozen British bureaucracy, and this is a great read. The history of the dogmatic thinking within the British Medical community is revealed here and to our modern minds, trained at least a little in the scientific methods, it's agonizing to read influential Doctors layout their favorite theory about the cause or cure for Scurvy, citing no evidence whatsoever. How many thousands of British Sailors suffered badly and died from their lack of interest in the well-being of their staff. This reminded me of the same British stubbornness having to do with exploration of the South Pole, during the late 1800s and early 1900s, when the leading lights of the day in England deliberately choosing to ignore the latest advances in Polar Exploration technology, using Eskimo dogs and skis for snow-journeys, by the Norwegians, as documented in The Last Place on Earth by Roland Huntford. Speaking of which....this a very enjoyable, well-written book, which states that by 1799 it was official British Naval policy that all British Sailors and the hired help on long journeys MUST have 8 oz. of lemon juice every day, and this was accepted as preventing and curing Scurvy. Then why does Robert Falcon Scott, a hundred years later, NOT know about this and takes NO preventative measures, and, Scurvy becomes one of the many factors, including having feet with frostbite and gangrene, that contributed to the death of all five summit members, and, friends and family afterwards purposely omitted passages from his own diary, before publishing Scott's book, which indicated that he did not pay attention to prevention or treatment of Scurvy, and as Captain of the ship he was ultimately responsible. A few generations later and the whole story came out, but I'm puzzled.....as a British Navy Officer, how did he not know about this "official policy" issued Navy-wide in 1796? I was hoping to find an answer to that question by ordering this book, and this was not addressed, so the mystery remains unsolved, nonetheless, I found this story to be a very enjoyable read.

Related Ebook :

Search This Blog

Ebook And Free PDF - MOBI