404 Dr. Burnett’s account of the effect of mercurial vapours 
thereof, and in consequence of their report, sent the Triumph 
to Gibraltar to remove the provisions, and purify the ship by 
ablution, the affected men being sent to the Naval Hospital ; 
which order was strictly attended to ; the provisions, stores, 
and likewise the shingle ballast, being removed on shore. 
Notwithstanding the removal cf the provisions, &c. and 
afterwards frequent ablution, on re-stowing the hold, every 
man so employed, as well as those in the steward’s room, 
were attacked with ptyalism ; and during the ship’s passage, 
and on her return to Cadiz, the fresh attacks were daily and 
numerous till the 13th of June, when the Triumph sailed for 
England. 
After their departure from Cadiz they experienced fresh 
breezes from the N. E. ; and the men being kept constantly 
on deck, the ship aired night and day by windsails, the 
lower-deck ports allowed to remain open at all times, when 
it could be done with safety, allowing no one to sleep on the 
orlop deck, and none affected with ptyalism on the lower 
deck, a very sensible decrease in the number daily attacked 
soon became apparent ; but nevertheless, many of those 
already affected became worse, and they were under the 
necessity of removing twenty seamen and the same number 
of marines, with two serjeants and two corporals, to a sloop 
of war and the transports in company. On their arrival in 
Caw sand Bay, near Plymouth, on the 5th of July, not one 
remained on the list for ptyalism. 
The effects of the mercurial atmosphere was not confined 
to the officers and ship’s company ; almost all the stock, 
consisting of sheep, pigs, goats, and poultry, died from it ; 
mice, cats, a dog, and even a canary bird, shared the same 
