INTRODUCTION. 21 



ments having been also made in the distillation of 

 sea water *, want of fresh provisions, and sweet 

 water, or fear of the scurvy, can never afford pre- 

 texts for delays in port, which are often injurious 

 to the object of the voyage. I cannot help men- 

 tioning here the fine discovery of the eminent 

 natural philosopher, Mr. Leslie, to produce ice 

 by means of evaporation, even in the hottest room ; 

 by which it is possible to have, even under the 

 equator, the luxury of a cool beverage, which 

 cannot but have a very beneficial influence on the 

 health, particularly in regions where calms prevail, 

 where one longs in vain for a breath of air to 

 assuage the heat, which debilitates the whole frame. 

 This invention has also been applied to the use of 

 the English navy. All the hospitals in the tropical 

 countries are already provided with extensive ap- 

 paratus for the production of ice. 



With respect to the preservation of the health of 

 the crew during the expedition of Lieutenant 

 Kotzebue, we must do him and Dr. Eschholz, 

 the ship's physician, the justice to say, that they 

 made this an object of their peculiar care, as the 

 result has proved. Notwithstanding a three years' 

 navigation, during which they were comparatively 



* Lieutenant Kotzebue saw such an apparatus on board the 

 ship of Captain Freycinet, whom he met with at the Cape of 

 Good Hope on a voyage of discovery. This apparatus supplied 

 in one day sufficient for three days' consumption for the wliolq 

 crew. 



c 3 



