Full title: Observations on the diseases of seamen / by Gilbert Blane.

Author/creator: Blane, Gilbert, Sir, 1749-1834.

Date: 1785..

Call Numbers: 616.98024/4

Record Identifier: 74VKOQPozWDO

Language: English

Formats: Books

Contents: [2], xiv, [1], iv-viii, [15]-502, [2], xv p., [3] folded leaves ; 22 cm.

Publishers: London : Printed by Joseph Cooper, and sold by John Murray ... and by William Creech, in Edinburgh, 1785.

Access: Issued in Special Collections.

Notes: Includes index. With three folded tables. "... It was Blane, extending the work of his mentor James Lind, who was ultimately responsible for introducing the lime to the British sailor and for finally ridding the British navy of its greatest scourge. Blane had long been concerned with the health of sailors, publishing his 'Short account of the most effectual means of preserving the health of seamen' in 1780. This was an important book, though very slight ... and it is the 1785 'Observations on the Diseases of Seamen' which should be considered Blane's magnum opus. Much of his material had been collected while he was engaged as Admiral Rodney's private physician. "Blane's study is accompanied by material from various other sources: a long discussion of scurvy and antiscorbutics, for example, is based on experiences reported by Anson and Hawkins, while Blane also notes that 'the authors from whom I have borrowed have been chiefly Dr. Lind and Captain Cook'. Practical and enquiring, Blane has been compared with Stephen Maturin, Patrick O'Brian's fictional seafaring doctor. His book contains a wealth of information on the practices, tools, and drugs of the naval physician at the time of the Napoleonic wars. For this and other contributions to naval medicine Blane was created baronet in 1812" -- Bookseller's catalogue. Mitchell Library copy : Presentation inscription by the author to Rev. Dr. William Robertson (1721-1793), Principal, University of Edinburgh. Formerly part of the Haskell F. Norman collection, auctioned Christie's New York, 15 and 16 June 1998. This volume is part of a collection on scurvy acquired from Hordern House Rare Books, Sydney, March 2007.

Permalink: https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/74VKOQPozWDO

DDC: 616.98024

MMS ID: 991022597699702626