216 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 
tically disappeared from the Navy, and there was little 
scurvy in Nelson’s days; but the reason is not clear, since, 
according to modern research, lime-juice only helps to 
prevent it. It continued in the Merchant Service, and ina 
decade from about 1865 some 400 cases were admitted into 
the Dreadnought Hospital, whereas in the decade 1887 
to 1896 there were only 38 cases. We had, at Cape Evans, 
a salt of sodium to be used to alkalize the blood as an 
experiment, if necessity arose. Darkness, cold, and hard 
work are in Atkinson’s opinion important causes of scurvy. 
Nansen was an advocate of variety of diet as being anti- 
scorbutic, and Scott recalled a story told him by Nansen 
which he had never understood. It appeared that some 
men had eaten tins of tainted food. Some of it was slightly 
tainted, some of it was really bad. They rejected the really 
bad ones, and ate those only which were slightly tainted. 
“¢ And of course,”’ said Nansen, ‘‘ they should have eaten 
the worst.” 
I have since asked Nansen about this story. He tells me 
that he must have been referring to the crew of the Wind- 
ward, the ship of the Jackson-Harmsworth Expedition to 
Franz Josef Land in 1894-97. The crew of this ship, 
which was travelling to and from civilization, got scurvy, 
though the land party kept healthy. Of this Jackson 
writes: ‘‘In the case of the crew of the Windward I fear 
that there was considerable carelessness in the use of tinned 
meats that were not free from taint, although tins quite 
gone were rejected. . . . We [on shore] largely used 
fresh bear’s meat, and the crew of the Windward were also 
allowed as much as they could be induced to eat. They, 
however, preferred tinned meat several days a week to 
a diet of bear’s meat alone; and some of the crew had 
such a prejudice against bear’s meat as to refuse to eat it at 
alll i 
Of course tainted food should not have been eaten at 
all, but if it had to be eaten, then, according to Nansen, 
the ptomaines which cause scurvy in the earlier stages of 
decomposition are destroyed by the ferment which forms 
1 F. G. Jackson, 4 Thousand Days in the Arctic, vol. ii. pp. 380-381. 
