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Scurvy: How a Surgeon, a Mariner, and a Gentlemen Solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age of Sail

byStephen Brown

Scurvy took a terrible toll in the Age of Sail, killing more sailors than were lost in all sea battles combined. Drawing on scientific research, fieldwork, and carefully chosen case studies, the narrative gives Scurvy a concrete sense of time, place, and consequence. Across the book, how a surgeon, a mariner, and a gentlemen solved the greatest medical mystery of becomes a way to examine power, adaptation, responsibility, and change within history and medical. Scurvy ultimately offers a nuanced guide to the evidence, the human stakes, and the consequences that make this subject worth revisiting.

Publisher

St. Martin's Griffin

Publication date

July 14, 2005

Format

Print edition

Pages

254

ISBN

9780312313920