In the Merchant Service. 61 



The vessels employed were all inspected in London, the con- 

 victs were supplied with the same articles of diet, had the same 

 amount of cubic space, and of clothing ; the men and women were 

 of the same class ; they were medically inspected before embar- 

 cation ; went the same voyage, under similar rules of discipline ; 

 and a medical officer of the Royal Navy in charge of each ship. 

 Yet, they arrived in very different conditions of health, and this 

 difference arose entirely from the character of the medical officer ; 

 if a good disciplinarian, he kept his men in cleanly habits, and had 

 the between decks properly cleaned, the boards of the berths 

 moved, and all wet and dirt kept away from the decks, and par- 

 ticularly the bedding, the convicts couched in a healthy state. I 

 could tell when I knew the surgeon in charge if he had made 

 more than one previous voyage, in what condition he would land 

 his men. And I have known officers most anxious in their charge, 

 and self-denying in their duty, fail in their efforts, entirely from 

 want of knowledge of the necessity of attending to details re- 

 specting general health in warding off Scurvy. 



The experience I gained from the result of my observation on 

 the condition of convicts landed after a few months' voyage is, 

 that without any special provision in the way of diet, even with- 

 out vegetables, by strict attention to hygenic rules men might be 

 landed free of Scurvy. 



The combination of proper diet, and great attention to means 

 of preserving health, which is carried out in the navy, has, I trust, 

 quite put an end to Scurvy in that service, its more open forms 

 are gone, and I hope its obscurer influences likewise. 



There was even a still greater proof of the necessitv arising for 

 great attention to the condition of the ship and the habits of the 

 men in preventing disease, shewn by the opposite states in which 

 the crews of the English and French Antarctic expeditions arrived 

 in Tasmania in 1839. The two English vessels, under the com- 

 mand of Sir James C. Ross, were in excellent health, not any 

 man sick, the vessels in beautiful order — in one word, in that 

 condition of great cleanliness in which we always see English 

 vessels of war. 



The two Erench vessels, under Admiral D'TJrville, arrived full 

 of sickness, and it became my duty to provide thirty with hospital 

 accommodation on shore labouring under Scurvy and dysentery. 

 These vessels were great contrasts to the English ; they were not 

 as clean as many merchant vessels, and the men had not a cleanly 

 or tidy appearance. They were lounging about, and there was 

 an absence of all that smartness and neatness about both men 

 and vessels which had characterised the English ships and their 

 crews. 



And yet on board these Erench ships were medical officers of 

 great attainments, and who devoted themselves most carefully 



