70 ADVANTAGES OF FLANNEL. 



vice amid the icebergs on the coast of Labrador, the 

 ship was ordered to sail immediately for the Wwt 

 Indies, he ordered the purser to draw two extr<* 

 flannel shirts and pairs of drawers for each man, 

 and instituted a regular daily inspection to see that 

 they were worn. These precautions were followed 

 by the happiest results. He proceeded to his 

 station with a crew of 150 men; visited almost 

 every island in the West Indies, and many of the 

 ports in the Gulf of Mexico ; and, notwithstanding 

 the sudden transition from extreme climates, re- 

 turned to England without the loss of a single man, 

 or having any sick on board on his arrival. In the 

 letter in which Captain Murray communicates these 

 facts, he adds, that every precaution was used, by 

 lighting stoves between decks and scrubbing with 

 hot sand, to ensure the most thorough dryness, and 

 every means put in practice to promote cheerfulness 

 among the men. When in command of the Recruit 

 gun-brig, which lay about nine weeks at Vera 

 Cruz, the same means preserved the health of his 

 crew, when the other ships of war anchored around 

 him lost from twenty to fifty men each. 



That the superior health enjoyed by the crew of 

 the Valorous was attributable chiefly to the means 

 employed by their humane and intelligent com- 

 mander is shown by the analogy of the Recruit ; for 

 although constant communication was kept up be- 

 tween the latter and the other ships in which 

 sickness prevailed, and all were exposed to the 

 same external causes of disease, yet no case of 

 sickness occurred on board the Recruit. Facts like 

 these are truly instructive, by proving how far man 

 possesses the power of protecting himself from 

 injury, when he has received necessary instruction, 

 and chooses to adapt his conduct to his situation. 



The exhalation from the skin being so constant 

 and extensive, its bad effects, when confined, sug- 

 gest another rule of conduct, viz- that of frequently 



