PRINGLE, Sir John.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

A Discourse on the Different Kinds of Air; A Discourse on the Torpedo; A Discourse on the Attraction of Mountains; A Discourse upon Some Late Improvements of the Means for Preserving the Health of Mariners; A Discourse on the Invention and Improvements of The first appearance in print of Cook's important paper on the measures he adopted to prevent scurvy on his first two voyages. The paper is included in Pringle's A Discourse upon Some Late Improvements of the Means for Preserving the Health of Mariners (1776).Even though the Scottish physician James Lind had presented in 1753 the clinical proof that fresh fruit prevented scurvy, it was still prevalent in the navy. Cook, however, did not lose a single man to scurvy during his second voyage - "a unique achievement in his time" (PMM).Pringle's Discourse includes Cook's paper and an extract from a letter from Cook to Pringle written in Plymouth Sound in July 1776. The paper was read to the Royal Society, commemorating Cook's receipt of the Copley Medal, and it later appeared in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society and in the official account of the second voyage."Cook was a brilliant navigator and hydrographer, an excellent administrator and planner, and probably the first sea captain to realize the importance of preserving the health and well-being of his crew. He did everything possible to maintain their physical fitness and the cleanliness of both men and ships. He conquered the hitherto prevalent scurvy by cut

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