SC - period lime use

[Stefan li Rous]

Puck said:
> Being of a nautical bent (okay, okay, so usually I'm just bent...) my first
> thought was to check for uses in combatting scurvy.  A quick survey of my
> references provided the following (granted, its late/post period):
> 
> "... [W]e have in our owne country here many excellent remedies generally
> knowne, as namely, Scurvy-grasse, Horse-Reddish roots, Nasturtia Aquatica,
> Wormwood, Sorrell, and many other good meanes... to the cure of those which
> live at home...they also helpe some Sea-men returned from farre who by the
> only natural disposition of the fresh aire and amendment of diet, nature
> herselfe in effect doth the Cure without other helps." At sea, he states
> that experience shows that "the Lemmons, Limes, Tamarinds, Oranges, and
> other choice of good helps in the Indies... do farre exceed any that can be
> carried tither from England."
> 
> John Woodall (1556-1643), military surgeon to Lord Willoughby's regiment
> (1591), first surgeon-general to the East India Company (1612), surgeon to
> St. Bartholomew's Hospital (1616-1643).  Excerpted from _The Surgeon's Mate_
> , 1617.

Thank you, Puck! I hadn't realized they were aware of scurvy and some
ways to prevent it this early. I knew the the use of the word 'limey" as
a name for a British sailor was well past period. It didn't occur to me
that the use of limes for this might predate the nickname by that much.

Somehow, I'm not sure that wormwood is a good choice. I'm not sure what
the others are other than Sorrell. Anyone know what these others are,
and whether they and Sorrell have an appreciably high amount of 
vitamin C?

Were the other navies using limes to counteract scurvey? If so, why
did the British get tagged with it? Because they were the largest
navy?

- -- 
THLord  Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas         stefan at texas.net
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