VOL. LXVIII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 405 



seized were soon well; so that at about a montii's end there only remained a few 

 of those who had been the worst, and they too were getting well at a great pace. 

 This change for the better was apparent in all a very few days after they had begun 

 to eat the raw vegetables. He had not at that time read the observations of the 

 English physicians and surgeons on malt, or he should certainly have made use 

 of it. Quas comes near it, with this difference only, that it is not drunk in a 

 state of fermentation. It is a species of sour small beer, to which, instead of 

 hops, they add the wild mint. 



The same method of treatment was attended with success in 1772 and 1773; 

 in both which springs he had scorbutic patients with the same symptons, but not 

 in such numbers as in 177 1, when there were near 60, because the house, having 

 now dried, was become very wholesome, and because the soil had been again 

 considerably raised. 



He would not propose carrying out vegetables on a voyage for the whole crew, 

 because that, in order to preserve them, they must be kept in dry sand, which 

 (if not altogether impracticable) would be extremely difficult in such large quan- 

 tities, not to add that even then a great part would be spoiled: but might it not 

 be possible to provide a certain quantity of carrots, turnips, &c. and stow them 

 in sand, in a part of the ship where they might not be exposed to get damp or 

 wet, whence they might he given in such cases as the sour krout alone would be 

 found insufficient to cure? for he thinks that these, joined to an infusion of malt, 

 would soon get the better of the disorders. But if this cannot be so well done at 

 sea, it is obvious, that the cure of the scorbutic persons will be much accelerated, 

 if raw vegetables are given them as soon as they come on shore; a mode which 

 will have the additional advantage of shortening the stations ships are obliged to 

 make, for recruiting their sick. Nature will of herself dispose the sick to make 

 use of this remedy, especially as the stomach is never affected by it. 



In Austria, as well as several other parts of Germany, the people eat sour 

 turnips, which are prepared in the same manner as the sour krout; that is, after 

 having been chopped thin, salt is put to them, and they are left to ferment. 

 They are put in tubs, and keep from one year to another. He proposes this 

 vegetable as a valuable addition to the antiscorbutic regimen of seafaring people. 

 It has nearly the same taste as sour krout, and will probably be found to have 

 the same virtues: and if so, though it should have no other advantage, it will at 

 least vary the diet, which is itself no inconsiderable advantage on a long voyage. 



XXXn. Comparison between Sir George Shuckburgh's and Colonel Roy's Rules 

 for the Measurement of Heights with the Barometer; in a Letter to Col. Roy, 

 F. R. S., from Sir George Shuckburgh, Bart., F. R. S. p. 681. 



Since the printing of your ingenious memoir on the subject of measuring 

 heights with the barometer, I have been naturally led to a comparison of your 



