1876. J 
Notices of Books . 
11 7 
Modern Naval Hygiene. By Dr. Leroy de Mericourt, Chief 
of the Statistical Department of the French Navy. Trans- 
lated from the French, by J. Buckley, Staff- Surgeon, 
H.M.S. Endymion. London and Portsmouth : Griffin and Co. 
This little work is, as the translator remarks in his Preface, 
“ the first attempt to present in an English dress the mass of 
knowledge we have acquired ” on the means of preserving the 
crew of a vessel in the best possible state of health. The sub- 
ject, as a moment’s reflection will show, is of grave interest — 
not merely to naval surgeons and to the authorities of Her 
Majesty’s fleet, but to the whole nation. A sickly crew means 
simply an inefficient ship. The author enters upon his task by 
calling attention to the great difference which exists in the 
health of the sailor according as he is engaged, — on the one 
hand, in the fisheries and the coasting trade, or, on the other, in 
long voyages, whether in the Navy or in the Merchant Service. 
In the latter case he is exposed, for long consecutive periods of 
time, to two sources of danger— over-crowding and the effluvia 
from the bilges. At one time there was a third, and yet more 
pressing evil — sea-scurvy, arising chiefly from the difficulty of 
obtaining a due supply of fresh provisions. This difficulty 
having been mainly overcome, there remains the great question 
of ventilation — the supplying, constantly and regularly, pure air 
in every part of the ship, and the removal of all offensive emana- 
tions and of their sources. This question, not always success- 
fully solved on land, is far more difficult at sea. It is obvious 
that the ventilating arrangements which might prove perfectly 
adequate during a cruise in the Channel may be found very 
deficient on a voyage down the Red Sea. The matter has been 
further complicated by the recent changes in naval architecture, 
and especially by the introduction of steam-power in men-of-war. 
The low free-board, the smaller number of the ports, and their 
lower position, are not in favour of ventilation. The space for- 
merly allotted to the men is curtailed by the engines and coal- 
bunkers, over-crowding is increased, and the atmosphere of the 
depths of the ship is more vitiated. On the other hand, the in- 
creased rapidity of the voyages and the more frequent calling in 
harbour counteract to some extent the evils of over-crowding. 
In the most modern ironclads the number of men is reduced, 
and the sleeping space is nearly doubled. But we have to take 
into account not merely the number of cubic feet of air per man, 
but the ease and speed with which it can be changed in all 
weathers. In screw-steamers the temperature is often excessive. 
44 In the gun-boat Eclair , during the summer of 1855, at Algiers, 
when the thermometer in the shade stood at 95°, 158° and even 
167° F. were registered in the stoke-hole !” Such a temperature 
is not only direCtly injurious to the men, but greatly promotes 
decomposition in all organic bodies. “ The process of blowing 
