An essay addressed to captains of the Royal navy and those of the Merchants' service, in the means of preserving the healths of their crews: with directions for prevention of dry rot in ships

Front Cover

From inside the book

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 10 - Yet now, the hour, the scene, the occasion known, Perhaps with equal right preferr'd his own. Of long experience in the naval art, Blunt was his speech, and naked was his heart ; Alike to him each climate, and each blast, The first in danger, in retreat the last...
Page 36 - Who hath woe ? who hath sorrow ? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause ? who hath redness of eyes ? They that tarry long at the wine ; they that go to seek mixed wine.
Page 59 - We did not see, any where, the least appearance of vegetation ; but observed many skeletons of animals, which had died of fatigue on the Desert, and occasionally the grave of some human being. All these bodies were so dried by the extreme heat of the sun, that putrefaction did not appear to have taken place after death. In recently expired animals I could not perceive the slightest offensive smell ; and in those long dead, the skin, with the hair on it, remained unbroken and perfect, although so...
Page 47 - O'er the dread feast malignant Chemia scowls, And mingles poison in the nectar'd bowls-; Fell Gout peeps grinning through the flimsy scene, And bloated Dropsy pants behind unseen ; Wrapp'd in his robe white Lepra hides his stains, And silent Frensy writhing bites his chains.
Page 75 - ... air. It would be most economical to fill the tanks at the beginning of the voyage. The first water for the ship's use should be taken from the ventilating tanks, leaving, however, half of it behind for operation. If the remaining water should ever be wanted for the ship's use, it can be drawn off, and replaced by salt water. It will be seen that, by this mode of ventilating, nothing but the hose and valves are to be added to what must necessarily be on board every ship. Any improvement in the...
Page 5 - A wise physician, skill'd our wounds to heal, Is more than armies to the public weal.
Page 74 - Affront the tanks. d, connecting water pipe. ee, valves for admitting the foul air into the tanks. ff, valves for allowing the foul air to escape. The operation of this self-acting ventilator is as follows ; Each tank or butt is half filled with water, which flows freely from one to the other through the pipe d. The quantity of water running alternately from each depends upon the motion of the ship. When one of the tanks is • elevated by the ship's motion, the water will run through the pipe d...
Page 2 - Hence, it wasjustly observed, by some of the most experienced officers, " that the blockading system of warfare, which annihilated the naval power of France, could never have been carried on, unless sea-scurvy had been subdued ; and more than one hundred thousand British seamen have thus been saved to the country, by as many thousand pounds." Shortly after this disease was subjected in the royal navy, another very remarkable era took place in the Medical Department, which considerably changed the...
Page 24 - ... suggestions of a surgeon, however salutary his injunctions may be; partly, it is true, because this is not the source from which orders should be issued ; and partly too, from a certain esprit du corps, and a belief that the customary means are preferable. For instance, I was once in a line of battle ship, where the surgeon recommended dry holy stoning the lower deck, in place of washing it. The captain preferred the latter method, and firmly persevered in it. The consequences were, that the...
Page 31 - The vital air Pervades the swarming seas and heaving earths, Where teeming Nature broods her myriad births ; Fills the fine lungs of all that breathe or bud, Warms the new heart, and dyes the gushing blood ; With life's first spark inspires the organic frame, And, as it wastes, renews the subtle flame.

Bibliographic information