Book Description

Customer Reviews (13)

Very Interesting Treatment of a Devastating Disease
This is a very interesting book that highlights the devastation wrought by scurvy and the path to discovering the cure. The author follows the paths of James Lind (the surgeon) who conducted a revolutionary experiment with potential treatments, Captain Cook (the mariner) who was one of the first captains to take his seaman's health seriously, and Gilbert Blane (the gentleman) who successfully advocated lime juice as prevention. Two common themes throughout the book are the significant history-altering impact of the disease and the plethora of unfounded and incorrect medical 'expertise.'

While there certainly are very interesting portions of the book, the author can be a bit repetitive and the structure of this book following the lives of the three individuals seems at times a bit forced. If you are interested in advancements in the Age of Sail, nothing beats Dava Sobel's Longitude.

Beating Scurvy
I've always been fascinated by the age of sail, particularly the period during the Napoleonic Wars.An incredible test of nations and the men at sea occurred during that war.Consequently I have enjoyed reading numerous fictional accounts of that war from authors such as Patrick O'Brien, Dudley Pope, and C.S. Forester.What I never fully grasped were all the reasons why the Brits were superior to the French and Spanish navies.Those authors always talked up the better training and discipline as the reason.They also pointed to the leadership purges of the French navy that occurred during the revolution.However, I intuitively recognized that there was something more to the story.The cure for scurvy was that something more.And the Brits got there first.

Brown does a fantastic job of outlining the history of scurvy and the quest for a cure in a very interesting and readable fashion.Outlining the course of scurvy at sea during the voyages of Anson and Cook, he is able to put a cost on scurvy.He details how rigid social structures prevented remedies from being taken seriously and reluctance by the Admiralty to invest in its men in terms of hygiene and diet permitted this affliction to rage for much longer than it should have.It is shocking to read how the medical professionals of the day diagnosed patients despite the evidence.When it appears that they are on the very verge of a cure, they seem to loose touch with logic and regress to useless remedies.

Brown tells the story of scurvy very well.

Fascinating social, Medical, and Historical Account on the Problem of Scurvy in the Age of Sail
I really enjoyed "Scurvy: How a Surgeon, a Mariner, and a Gentlemen Solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age of Sail" by Stephen Brown.It was a fast-paced, easy-to-read, well written book about the effects of scurvy upon mariners (and world history) during the 16th-18th centuries.

I read "Scurvy" in a few hours.The book kept my interest all the way from the horrible description of scurvy's physical effects upon the human body to the individual stories about Lind, Cook, Blane, Nelson, and other historical figures who fill its pages.

"Scurvy" was full of information, both medically and historically, as well as socially.It provided a great deal of info on life on the sea during "The Age of Sail."It also easily explained the medical limitations and theories of the time, underscoring the human failings that prevented significant medical advancement.Finally, it provided rich accounts of people and events from European history that are truly interesting, making me want to learn more.

Perhaps its only failing is that it didn't cover Vitamin C in detail (or scurvy on land), though I admit that was not the draw of the book.The book was about a horrible disease that killed millions of sailors, how a few good men finally figured out how to prevent it, and what that meant to the world.Highly recommended.

reh
Well written. An interesting insite into life aboard sailing ships and the conditions endured by sailors and ignored by the admiralty in the age of sailing vessels.

Great Story - Some Lessons For Today
Finding and implementing a cure for scurvy on Naval vessels had the same impact on the fleet as the introduction of nuclear power did to the submarine fleet more than 200 years later.

The author does a great job of recreating the conditions on the naval ship of the era, where scurvy took a huge toll among the crew and left few unaffected. When added to the horrific hygene on the ships, a majority of the crew was doomed as the vessels undertook long voyages to farflung shores.

The search for a cure is a classic study in the behavior of large organizations over the centuries. It was not enough to discover and then rediscover the cure, it was required that the established "cures" be slowly overcome.

It is a very enjoyable and enlightening read. Highly recommended. ... Read more

Book Description
Pirates of the past...today! The Scurvy Dogs search for jobs, love, and adventure - with disastrous results! This volume collects all five issues of the critically-acclaimed, independent humor, comic book sensation.But that's not all! It's chock-full of bonuses - including rare, behind-the-scenes materials, a character sketchbook, creator interviews, pin-up gallery, and an original commentary on all five issues written exlusively for this volume by creators Andrew Boyd and Ryan Yount. A must-have for the deranged; or for collectors of oddball comedy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Yeargh! Tis Brillant! Yeargh!
Hilarious and fun, Scurvy Dogs is fun romp following the lives of olde time pirates dropped in modern day America with humorous consequences.

I'm Biased...
I'm biased, since I'm one of the book's creators. We had a lot of fun working on this book, and I think it shows. If you're a fan of Monty Python, Adult Swim, or the Simpsons, you'll probably find something to enjoy in this collection, as long as you can learn to live with my "no-I-didn't-go-to-Art-School-I-got-a-regular-college-degree" art-style, and our "just-trying-to-make-each-other-laugh-so-hard-we-snort-Fanta-out-of-our-noses" writing style.

Fun indie humor
While not exactly a masterpiece, Scurvy Dogs is an always entertaining and clever series. The writing is similar in many ways to that of Adult Swim cartoons or popular webcomics, but always manages to be unpredictable and un-cliche in its own way. The art isn't spectacular, but personally I feel it adds to the comic, if it were too well drawn the art would clash with the slapdash, pop culture slant of the writing. Definetly recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
Fifteen members of the Secret Scurvy Dog Society relate their own accounts, many humorous and some pointedly not, of life at sea on U.S. Navy destroyers during the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War. Beginning with the question - Why the Navy? - and ending with reflections on how their experiences during hard lives at sea came to be considered cherished memories, these men, both officers and enlisted, tell the quintessential Sea Stories of the latter half of the 20th century. ... Read more

Book Description
The first modern survey of the long and fascinating history of the various ideas and theories about the cause of scurvy, the nutritional deficiency disease that has caused (with the exception of famine) the most human suffering in recorded history. Professor Carpenter documents the arguments that led to the numerous theories about the disease and eventually to the isolation and synthesis of vitamin C (ascorbic acid), and illustrates how the changing ideas about scurvy reflected the scientific and medical beliefs of different periods in history. The author also examines the modern claims for the use of very high levels of vitamin C to bring about a state of super-health, and he analyses the most important evidence for and against this practice. This fascinating story in the history of science and medicine will be of interest to both the historian and scientist as well as the general reader. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The bible on Scurvy
This is the bible on scurvy and its cure.Scurvy is said to have caused more misery then all diseases and to have killed 100,000s of people at sea.This book was the first true study of the disease and the history of mans seek to cure it.During the age of sail every voyage was plagued with preventing scurvy.Most prone to scurvy were the exploration expeditions that the Europeans launched all over the world from the 1400s to the late 1800s.For 400 years, as this book supremely documents, Scurvy was THE problem with seafaring, because if the crew died it really didn't matter if you found land or not.Thus many remedies were tested and tried, some that did NOTHING and others that hit the nail on the head without realizing it. For instance it was observed that the Eskimoes, who subsisted on an all meat diet, did not have scurvy.The European sailors who were experimenting by bringing using fresh vegetables to combat the Scurvy, were suddenly dumfounded, not realizing that Vitamin C existed potently in raw meat as it did in Limes.This wonderful book weaves many amazing tales of hardship, survival, experimentation and the like.An important work and a good read. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

FABULOUS ME MATEYS!!!!!
WOW!This is Fabulous!I've never felt so much a pirate as when this popped up at me! gorgeous!such detail and color - this is just spectacular!One of the best pop-up books you will buy today.
Don't wait to steal one from the next ship that goes by - go out and buy it NOW! ... Read more

Book Description
Scurvy is a medical detective story for the ages, a fascinating and often maddening examination of how James Lind (the surgeon), James Cook (the mariner), and Gilbert Blane (the gentleman) worked separately to eliminate the "scourge of the seas," the curse of all 18th-century seafaring nations. The willful ignorance of the royal medical elite, who endorsed ludicrous medical theories based on speculative research while ignoring the lifesaving properties of citrus fruit, cost tens of thousands of lives. 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 cure for scurvy ranks among the greatest human accomplishments, yet its impact on history has been largely ignored. Stephen Bown takes us back to the earliest recorded appearance of the disease in the 16th century, to the 18th century, when the scourge ravaged all ships at sea, to the early 19th century, when the British conquered scurvy and successfully blockaded the French and expanded their empire. Evocative and enthralling, "Scurvy" is a rare mix of compelling history and classic adventure story. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Napoleon, Limes, Lemons and Limeys
This is a fascinating, often amusing book on a very interesting subject. It reads with all the gripping suspense of a well-written novel, while being meticulously researched to be historically accurate. Mr. Bown writes with his trademark contagious enthusiasm for his subject while answering all the questions you and I could possibly think to ask about scurvy. I had no idea, before reading this book, how horrifying the disease could be. The machinations of governments and navies are appalling, as is their total disregard for the plight of their apparently disposable mariners. Nor would I have guessed that the lowly lemon played a major role in defeating Napoleon! You have to wonder why history textbooks are so unnecessarily stultifying, when writers of Mr. Bown's caliber do such a wonderful job of making us gobble up their words as easily as citrus-flavoured Vitamin C tablets! ... Read more

Product Description
Destroyer veterans release short story collectionFifteen members of the Secret Scurvy Dog Society relate their own accounts, many humorous and some pointedly not, of life at sea on U.S. Navy destroyers during the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War.Beginning with the question - Why the Navy? - and ending with reflections on how their experiences during hard lives at sea came to be considered cherished memories, these men, both officers and enlisted, tell the quintessential Sea Stories of the latter half of the 20th century.Scurvy Dogs, Green Water and Gunsmoke is the first joint effort for these writers, most of whom have been published previously in the Tin Can Sailor, the journal of the National Association of Destroyer Veterans. ... Read more

Book Description
published in 1833 from the PREFACE:
In consequence of the extreme prevalence of Scrofulous, Scorbutic, and Cancerous Diseases, and the ignorance which exists on the part of the public, as to their causes, symptoms, and nature, I have been induced to reprint my observations on those subjects, and to send forth an Eighth Edition for the information of the afflicted.
To these remarks, I have appended a relation of several cases, which have been cured by a peculiar mode of treatment which I have been in the habit of employing for twenty-six years; during which long period I have seen and treated an immense number of cases of the above description.
These cases I have rendered very concise, preferring the main points in each to a verbose and tiresome description of the minutiae; and although the number might have been extended to many hundreds, I trust a sufficiency have been detailed to establish the success of my practice, and to show the afflicted the nature and modes of attack of the diseases above mentioned.
I have confined myself to a simple relation of the facts of each case, and on those facts such case must stand or fall. I have not resorted to those artificial props which some men are in the habit of employing because the cases themselves are too lame to stand alone; I allude to the practice of soliciting the attestations of the patients, and decoying the simple, the ignorant, well-intentioned, but deceived neighbours, to add their signatures to cases of which they know nothing, and of which the details are a series of bombast, falsehood, ignorance, and humbug. There are many of the cases which I have related to which I could have obtained the signatures of clergymen, Members of Parliament, magistrates, and other persons high in rank and station in life, without saying a word about overseers, churchwardens, and parishioners, the signatures of whom might be obtained at all times; but, established as my practice is, I would scorn to importune those gentlemen, and impertinently to place their names before the public in a position which every sensible man must declare to be that of extreme negligence, ignorance, or unbecoming officiousness. ... Read more

Book Description
The article is excerpted fromGale Encyclopedia of Medicine.

Consult the second edition of this authoritative, comprehensive, in-depth medical guide for information on more than 1,700 medical topics in language accessible to adult laypersons. Presented in a single alphabetical sequence, articles range in length from one or two paragraphs for minor topics, to several pages or more for major topics. Disease/disorder articles typically cover definition; description; causes and symptoms; diagnosis; treatments; prevention; and more. Test/treatment articles typically cover definition; purposes; precautions; preparation; risks; normal and abnormal results; and much more. This second edition includes more than 200 new entries, 300 updated entries, approximately 650 color images and illustrations, and a comprehensive subject index. New features include biographical and historical sidebars throughout the text.

Disease/disorder articles contain some or all of the following sections:

• Definitions -- brief dictionary-style definition of the disorder
• Descriptions -- overview of the disorder; who gets it and why
• Causes & symptoms -- process, substance or organism that produces the condition; any risk factors that increase susceptibility to the condition; signs and symptoms of the disease
• Diagnosis -- overview of procedures and tests used to diagnose the condition; how the test is done; who should be tested and when; time required; cost; whether it's typically covered by insurance
• Treatments -- overview of conventional methods of care or management of the condition, such as drugs, surgeries, physical therapy, etc.
• Alternative treatments -- overview of alternative/complementary therapies that may be used to treat the condition
• Prognosis -- probable outcome of the disease
• Preventions -- what actions can be taken to prevent the condition from occurring

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Skin & Allergy News, published by International Medical News Group on June 1, 2004. The length of the article is 380 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Case of the month.(Practice Trends)(diagnosis of scurvy)
Author: Kerri Wachter
Publication: Skin & Allergy News (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 1, 2004
Publisher: International Medical News Group
Volume: 35Issue: 6Page: 87(1)

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Book Description
This is the dramatic story of the extraordinary heroic fight by one man to cure scurvy, man's first occupational disease that killed over two million men in three centuries. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Battling the Anecdote
The blurb is that Dr. James Lind discovered the cure and prevention of scurvy in 1747 by conducting the first controlled clinical trial in the annals of medicine.In spite of his heroic efforts, It took about 50 years for this to finally sink into the medical bureaucracy of the British navy, when the scourge was finally vanquished.

Well, the truth is a little more complex than that, and contains some pertinent lessons for our own time.The trial involved only 12 men divided into 6 groups, two of whom got two oranges and a lemon while the others got various other remedies of current interest, including dilute sulfuric acid.The fruit receivers got better, and the others did not.This was the only real trial during the several centuries of extended sea voyages, and was not enough evidence to overcome the objections of amateur observers, anecdotal reports, quacks with their own pixie dust to sell, and the opinions of the committees of the connected.Truth be told, the modest Scot did not really push the method for study hard enough, and complicated his message with speculation and caveats.He was unable to harness the commercial motives of the right people to finally triumph in his own lifetime.Even as late as our own Civil War, and in the concentration camps of the Boer War, tens of thousands continued to perish of scurvy.

Interestingly, one of the reasons for the failure, traced by the author, is the confusion of the terminology of the day, when "lemon" and "lime"were terms used inconsistently and interchangeably, while their anti-scorbutic powers differed significantly.One can easily sneer at the ignorance of the those times, but be startled to realize that the same sort of problem exists today in the multi-billion dollar controversy over asbestos, in which two sorts of minerals, comprising six distinct minerals with distinct chemical structures are all lumped together under the same term: asbestos.Journalists and dwellers in the bowels of the EPA and OSHA are as indifferent to the distinction and the evidence for a great difference in the dangers inherent in each of them, as any committee of the Admiralty of Lind's day.

As far as the inadequacy of Lind's clinical trial, these problems of methodology have hardly gone away.Spend a few hours researching the clinical data on the important problem of second hand cigarette smoke, and tremble before the power of the mass media and the disregard of the uplifters for real scientific data.

Harvey has chronicled the complexities of the discovery well, and his tale serves as a cautionary lesson for those interested in how the truth may finally come to prevail, even in our own time of a plethora of shoddy science, bureaucratic safety committees,and dishonest journalism.

Science Apartheid
Despite my interests in history as it relates to science (and more specifically to medicine), I found this work to be sorely tedious.Nonetheless, it would have been redeemable had there been useful organization, instead wondering almost aimlessly among events not much better arranged than a high school term paper.The frequency of repetition also taxed my patience heavily.The irony of the epilogue leaving potential credibility for Linus Pauling's work with high-dose vitamin C in same way he criticized other charlatans' benefactors shouldn't be lost on the reader, but it's more likely the difficult delivery will discourage any reader from getting that far who isn't already heavily invested in evidence-based science.This certainly won't be the work that invites the lay public to be interested in science.

A story of science and obstinance
David Harvie has written a fascinating book on the history of the dreaded disease scurvy. Only two mammals are vulnerable to scurvy, humans and guinea pigs, because these two creatures cannot produce their own Vitamin C or ascorbic acid. Throughout history, millions of people, especially sailors and soldiers, died horrible deaths by scurvy.

Dr. James Lind, who in 1747 conducted what is considered the worldýs first clinical trial, established that oranges and lemons cure scurvy. Yet, because of the lack of understanding by people and Lind's inability to push and publicize his discovery enough, sailors, particularly those in the Royal Navy making extended ocean trips, continued to die by the thousands until the early-1790's, when the Admiralty decreed that lemons and their juice be issued to every ship. By 1795, scurvy in the Royal Navy was eliminated, except in cases where supplies of lemon juice ran out.

The most amazing part of the story still lay ahead, because scurvy returned in force during the 1800's, and quack cures were still in use until the 1900's! I leave it up to you to read the book to learn why this happened.

The book even mentions Dr. Linus Pauling's work with Vitamin C in the late 1900's.

All in all, an excellent read. I would give it 4.5 stars if that were possible, because the writing slows down a little in spots. All writers of science history should study the excellent writing of Dava Sobel, the author of Longitude, the superb history of John Harrison and his clocks.

Two Million
That is the estimated number of men aboard ship that died during the 300 years proceeding the year 1800. Three hundred years is a long time, but the rate of death is comparable to the rate The United States lost soldiers each year during the Vietnam War. The deaths of 6,600+ men per year for three centuries are a staggering number. David I. Harvie explores the history of the preventable disease that killed so many in his book, "Limeys", a work that will probably be enjoyed by a great many people. The book is part history, part politics, part science, and a great deal of preventable tragedy.

The sickness known as scurvy was responsible for up to 75 percent of deaths on lengthy sea voyages. More sailors died from disease than in combat with an enemy, weather, or bad navigation. As early as 1747 Dr. James Lind conducted testing that anticipated methodologies hundreds of years ahead of their time that demonstrated steps to overcoming the problem, even though the actual Vitamin C that was the key was not identified until 1932. It was in this year that the hexuronic acid and Vitamin C were identified as one and the same, and this critical element was finally renamed ascorbic acid.

The human body is fantastically complex. Unfortunately this same amazing machine does not produce Vitamin C unlike many other animals. This inability has been responsible for millions of deaths, and remains a killer to the present day. Large population transfers in the form of refugees generally suffer horrendous numbers of dead. Lack of Vitamin C is not the sole cause, but it remains as deadly as it has ever been, while at the same time remaining so easy to prevent.

I think most people have heard of scurvy and also have a variety of ideas about who was responsible for finding the key to a cure. What may be less familiar are the centuries that it took to adopt the cure once it was known, and the intentional choices repeatedly made to not provide the food to protect the men who manned these ships. This book is filled with charlatans who peddled worthless cures, which were at times even deadly, and made a fortune selling them. They were able to do so as those in the military and government often stood to gain from quack products, as opposed to providing fruit that would ensure the safety of their men. This history is easily among the worst examples of those in positions of power placing next to no value on human life.

This is a fascinating story, well thought out and shared, and should be of interest to anyone who is inquisitive. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Southern Medical Journal, published by Southern Medical Association on September 1, 2002. The length of the article is 1529 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Early scurvy complicating anorexia nervosa.
Author: Kenneth Christopher
Publication: Southern Medical Journal (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 2002
Publisher: Southern Medical Association
Volume: 95Issue: 9Page: 1065(2)

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Book Description
This digital document is an article from Child Life, published by Benjamin Franklin Literary & Medical Society, Inc. on March 1, 2000. The length of the article is 737 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Limeys: The Healthy Sailors.(scurvy)(Brief Article)
Publication: Child Life (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 2000
Publisher: Benjamin Franklin Literary & Medical Society, Inc.
Volume: 79Issue: 2Page: 24

Article Type: Brief Article

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