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DR WRIGHTS DIRECTIONS TO OFFICERS 

 GOING TO THE WEST INDIES. 



[From Sir John Sinclair's Code of Health, Appendix, Page 7.] 



1. Take your passage in a packet , a frigate of war, or in 

 an armed ship with convoy, and let your berth or cabin be 

 in a free and well ventilated part of the ship. Transports 

 are often crowded with soldiers, and incumbered with wo- 

 men and children ; and unless the most strict and rigorous 

 observance of cleanliness is in the persons as individuals, and 

 in the berths of the men between decks, the ship or jail fever 

 will soon break out, first amongst the troops, then the sea- 

 men, and, lastly, among the officers themselves. 



%. If you have not before made a voyage any where, it is 

 probable you would get sea-sick, which, while it lasts, is very 

 distressing. I advise you at all times to sit in good air, and 

 to be much upon deck throughout the day, and frequently to 

 bathe the face in a basin of cold salt water. After each fit 

 of vomiting, take a small basin of tea, water-gruel, or broth. 

 Take sparingly of solid animal food, and abstain from spirits 

 or fermented liquors for some days. 



3. Here it is proper to take notice, that salt beef and pork 

 are drained of all their nutritive juices. Living on such food 

 exhausts the power and action of the stomach, and no proper 

 supply of chyle enters the circulation. This, with lying in 

 confined parts of the ship, never fails to produce sea-scurvy, 

 with all its direful consequences. 



