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The incidence of scurvy in sixteenth- and seventeenth- century voyages to the Canadian Arctic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

Robert Davidson Jr
Robert Davidson Jr
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada
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Abstract

Scurvy was a long-recognised problem amongst sailors, the cure and prevention ofwhich is sometimes incorrectly accredited to James Lind in the mid-eighteenth century. However, the therapeutic value of many antiscorbutic foods was discovered long before Lind's treatise on the scurvy was published in 1753, and problems with the deficiency continued well into the twentieth century. Through an examination of early Arctic exploration (1585–1632), the incidence and practical knowledge of this much-feared condition are analyzed. During this half century, knowledge of scurvy was far from complete, as is revealed in the journals of a number of voyages that set out in search of the Northwest Passage. From the careful reading of these journals many questions about the incidence of scurvy in the early exploration of the Canadian Arctic can be addressed.

Type
Articles
Information
Polar Record , Volume 32 , Issue 182 , July 1996 , pp. 229 - 236
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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