James Lind was born in 1716 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was a British naval surgeon who is referred to as the ‘founder of naval hygiene in England’.
As the Chief Physician at the Royal Hospital at Haslar, Lind saw thousands of cases of scurvy, typhus and dysentery at close hand. At that time more sailors were dying of scurvy than from combat. Lind knew of the conditions on board the naval ships that caused these illnesses. He was also aware that citrus fruits had been known to be beneficial for sailors, as Dutch sailors had been consuming them with good results for centuries.
He decided to conduct an experiment to compare the effects of citrus fruits to other remedies. He selected 12 sailors suffering from scurvy and divided them into six pairs. One pair received a regular dosage of lime juice while the other 5 pairs received vinegar, seawater, apple cider, elixir vitriol and a medicinal paste.
He found that the patients who received the lime juice made a remarkable recovery while the others did not.
As a result of this experiment, Lind recommended including a daily ration of lime juice in the sailors diet. He also advised better hygiene on ships including regular baths, clean clothing and bedding. It took around 40 years for Lind’s suggestions to be implemented but when they were, scurvy and typhus were almost wiped out from the Royal navy. Also lime juice became so synonymous with British sailors that they were nicknamed ‘limeys’!
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