science · 29 August 1749 · 275 years ago
birth
Born 29 Aug 1749; died 26 Jun 1834 at age 84.
Scottish physician who, when head of the Navy Medical Board, required (1795) a diet including lemon juice on navy vessels, which virtually eliminated scurvy and its significant lost manpower due to sickness of sailors. The value of citrus juice had been established by James Lind, with his Treatice on Scurvy (1754). Blane also improved sanitary conditions in the Navy by providing supplies of soap and medicines, and was involved with designing rules that were precursors to modern quarantine conditions. He required every surgeon in the service to make regular returns or journals of the state of health and disease onboard their ship. In 1829, he established a prize medal as an incentive for the surgeon producing the best journal.
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