LIND, James (1716-1794). A Treatise on the Scurvy. Edinburgh: Sands, Murray and Cochran for A. Kincaid and A. Donaldson, 1753.
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LIND, James (1716-1794). A Treatise on the Scurvy. Edinburgh: Sands, Murray and Cochran for A. Kincaid and A. Donaldson, 1753.

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LIND, James (1716-1794). A Treatise on the Scurvy. Edinburgh: Sands, Murray and Cochran for A. Kincaid and A. Donaldson, 1753.

8° (205 x 128mm). Errata on verso of b4 with pasted over slip as in NLM and Friedman copies. (Title lightly browned at margins, top margins of early leaves a little soiled, block broken at Ee1.) Contemporary Scottish calf gilt, marbled endpapers (spine split and lacking part of lettering-piece, upper cover almost detached, worn at corners). Provenance: John Clevland (1706-1763, naval administrator and politician, inscribed 'From the Author' on front blank, with Clevland's book label).

FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY of Lind's classic treatise. With no knowledge of vitamins, Britain's first acknowledged expert on naval health provided evidence that a costive and bodily-destructive diet of unleavened bread, ship's biscuits and salted meat could be remedied by oranges, lemons and green vegetables. Among a wide-range of recommendations 'Lind showed that in preserved form citrus juicess could be carried for long periods on board ship, and that, if properly administered, they would prevent the disease. The application of this knowledge by naval surgeons who followed led to the eventual elimination of the disease from the British Navy' (Garrison-Morton). Born and educated in Edinburgh, Lind experienced the life of a royal naval surgeon between 1738 and 1748, graduating MD from the university on his return and participating in the medical life of the city until he moved south to Gosport in 1758 to be physician in charge of the Haslar Royal Naval Hospital. John Clevland, the recipient of this copy, was also of Scots descent, Namier describing him as 'a hard-working hungry Scot who acquired unrivalled knowledge of Admiralty matters and thereby rose to a position of considerable importance' (The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III, 1963, p. 39). By 1753, Clevland was in the lucrative post of secretary to the Admiralty. While Lind's dedication was to Lord Anson, then first lord of the Admiralty, the gift of this book to the secretary suggests that it may have been Clevland as much as Anson who obtained the position at Haslar for him. The imprint 'For A. Kincaid & A. Donaldson' is not found in any recorded copies in the British Isles, most having the alternative and presumably later imprint 'For A. Millar, London'. Dibner Heralds of Science 126; Garrison-Morton 3713; Grolier Medicine 44; NLM/Blake p. 272; Norman 1354.
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