17 Facts About James Lind

1.

James Lind was a pioneer of naval hygiene in the Royal Navy.

2.

James Lind proposed that fresh water could be obtained by distilling sea water.

3.

James Lind was educated at the High School in Edinburgh.

4.

James Lind thought that scurvy was due to putrefaction of the body that could be helped by acids, so he included an acidic dietary supplement in the experiment.

5.

James Lind divided twelve scorbutic sailors into six groups of two.

6.

Shortly after this experiment, James Lind retired from the Navy and practised privately as a physician.

7.

When James Lind Cook went on his first voyage he carried wort, sauerkraut and a syrup, or "rob", of oranges and lemons as antiscorbutics, but only the results of the trials on wort were published.

8.

James Lind believed that scurvy had multiple causes which therefore required multiple remedies.

9.

James Lind noticed that typhus disappeared from the top floor of his hospital, where patients were bathed and given clean clothes and bedding.

10.

James Lind recommended that sailors be stripped, shaved, scrubbed, and issued clean clothes and bedding regularly.

11.

In 1759, James Lind discovered that steam from heated salt water was fresh.

12.

James Lind proposed to use solar energy for the distillation of water.

13.

James Lind, embarked on a career with the British navy.

14.

James Lind rose to the rank of post-captain, and was notable for his role in the Battle of Vizagapatam in 1804, for which he was knighted.

15.

James Lind died at Gosport in Hampshire as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, in 1794.

16.

James Lind was buried in St Mary's Parish Churchyard in Portchester.

17.

James Lind's is one of twenty-three names on the Frieze of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine building in Keppel Street, London.