for them by Government, put under the charge of the purser, to be issued to them when wanted. Since seamen, therefore, are so perfectly insensible to their own welfare, it becomes necessary, that their officers should be on the alert for them, by guarding them against intemperance; regulating their clothing to the climate and season of the year; judiciously ventilating their berths; frequently airing their bedding; and sheltering them (as much as possible) from rain and a scorching sun, &c.

And it is in proportion to the care and patience which an officer displays in thus administering to the comforts of the men under his charge, that he is useful to the service and valuable to his country. Moreover, those individuals in the service require the most attention, to whom we are disposed to give the least; for the more abandoned a character is, the more care is necessary to preserve his health. Hard drinkers, for example, are well known to be most subject to disease in the royal navy; and this arises from two causes; first, the greater degree of exposure to which such individuals are subjected in this state; and, secondly, the subsequent weakened state of the circulation.

I have here to observe, before leaving this subject, that inebriety is not only hurtful to man in a moral point of view, but some of the most noble of his physical qualities are not a little deteriorated by it. It has often been observed, "that men, whose spirits have been exhausted in the revel and danger of a debauch over night, are nerve-shaken, timorous, and unenterprizing, on the succeeding day." I

It is true, British seamen have rarely been found wanting in physical courage, yet, if the majority were drunkards, we might tremble for the result; but this is supposing a state of morality different to what exists, or applying the faults of the few to the many happily, we still retain that steady native courage, the legitimate offspring of an unconquered ancestry, who, for centuries past, have kindled with indignation at an invading foe,

"And stand a wall of fire around their much-lov'd isle."

Remedy against Humidity on the Lower Deck. It would serve no good purpose, thus to have pointed out the

This doctrine would almost lead one to conclude, that a man's courage depended on the strength of the circulation, or action of the heart and arteries. Be that as it may, most men are undoubtedly fitter to meet danger, when the circulation has been a little excited by spirits or wine, than after its stimulant effects have ceased. Moreover, I have observed, that those persons whose pulses were slower than the animal standard, have at least been timorous.

destructive influence of washing decks, if prophylactic means were not, to a certain extent, within our reach. In order, therefore, to preserve the health of a ship's company, the lower deck ought never (or very seldom) to be washed in any season or climate, but, uniformly dry holy stoned, and any water that may have been accidentally spilt there, should be carefully and speedily swabbed up, and afterwards dried by means of warm sand or sawdust, kept in a stove in the galley for that purpose.

When the lower deck has been kept after these directions for a short time, it will be found, on examination, that it has become white, dry, and comfortable; and, in the event of seamen sitting, lying, or even sleeping, on it, they will not sustain the least injury and, not only the bedding and clothing, but even the usual hygrometric state of the atmosphere between decks, will be materially improved, and general good health will be the happy result.

Of the Time and Method of Washing the Main and Quarter Decks.

As the main and quarter decks will occasionally require to be washed, the best judgment ought to be exercised in selecting the fittest hour of the day, and taking care never to continue the tions longer than are absolutely necessary for cleanliness' sake.

opera

Ablution can never be necessary or salutary on the quarter deck in a morning after it has rained, nor should it ever be practised in cold climates, in winter, before breakfast (at least on the present tedious plan, which requires full three hours), but an hour in the forenoon ought to be reserved for that purpose. It has been remarked by many, that the human constitution suffers severely from standing long in water, soon after rising in the morning. think this may be accounted for in the following way.

It is well known that, during sleep, the heat of the hammocks, the crowded state of the lower deck, and the fuller action of the heart, elicit the circulation more to the surface of the body than in the erect position.

When, therefore, seamen are called up in this state to work in water, under the diminished temperature of the morning, the rush of blood from the surface to the centre is such, that no individual, having the least tendency to internal disease, can sustain the shock, without suffering the most manifest injury.

Whereas, if washing decks were performed after breakfast, time would be given for the seamen to recover from the effects of the heated and vitiated atmosphere in which they had slept; and the system, being now fortified by breakfast, would sustain little

injury by washing decks, under the increasing temperature of the forenoon.'

The transition from a warm hammock, in a crowded lower deck, to the main and quarter decks, early in the morning, on many occasions, in winter, is greater than the shock from the warm to the cold bath; and this evil is much augmented by its long continuation. Yet custom, and the robust health of many seamen, prevent them from complaining: but we are not to measure the bad consequences of cold and moisture by their effects on such individuals; it is on the delicate their baneful influence becomes daily evident; who are, in fact, a kind of test to the rest of mankind, by which they are enabled to judge of the salutary tendency of the place they live in, and the habits they practise.

I am fully aware, that the time here pointed out for washing the main and quarter decks, will be objected to by many officers, on account of its breaking in on the forenoon; but, magna est veritas et prevalebit. Let such individuals recollect, that every thing in the shape of show or parade, and even ordinary duty itself, ought to be sacrificed to the most important of all purposes; viz. taking care of the health of our brave seamen, the real source of strength and national independence.

But, unfortunately, we seldom hear the interrogatory, Under what regulations will a ship be most healthy? The great consideration is, generally, Under what system will she look best?

Of the Means of preventing Drunkenness, and ascertaining the Air's capacity for Moisture.

O'er the dread feast malignant Chemia scowls,
And mingles poison in the nectar'd bowls;
Fell Gout peeps grinning through the flimsy scene,
And bloated Dropsy pants behind unseen;
Wrapp'd in his robe, white Lepra hides his stains,
And silent Frenzy writhing bites his chains.

DARWIN.

To trace out the extent of human calamity produced in the different classes of society by the varied effects of wine, spirits, and malt liquor, would furnish materials for one of the most melancholy tales ever heard by the human ear: for, alas! there are too many "who drown the memory of the past, the frightful anticipations of the future, the remains of moral feeling, and the bloom

Few seamen have a healthy color: this undoubtedly arises from humidity, and the vitiated constitution of the atmosphere of the lower deck.

of health, in the ocean of ebriety. There is an external character, a manner, an aspect in the inebriate, even when sober, which stamps him from the man of habitual temperance; he becomes heavy and awkward in his gait, bloated in his countenance, his eyes and eyelids are inflamed, he falters in his speech, his nose is red, his complexion sallow, his face covered with eruptions, his breath fetid, his skin and muscles are flaccid, and his hands tremble."

Yet, with this most frightful picture of human misery before our eyes, there are a great many who maintain that drinking to excess, occasionally, has a salutary tendency on the human constitution :

"Qu'il faut à chaque mois
S'enivrer au moins une fois."

And having this belief confirmed by its temporary soothing effects on the sensorium, they are soon induced to consider chaque jour a more agreeable period to repeat the stimulus, than chaque mois, and thus the habit becomes established.

It will be found more difficult to remove drunkenness from a ship than any other evil of the present day: for it is neither to be cured by actual punishment, nor by any other means whatever, when it has once taken deep root in human nature. Yet, a well

regulated and effective police, under the immediate direction of a patient and judicious first lieutenant, will greatly lessen the unequal distribution of grog, and prevent, at least, tumultuous drunkenness.

Particular care ought to be taken, that every one drink his own allowance, or that it be stopped; and, thus, the possibility of borrowing, buying, and selling, will be effectually checked. The bad effects arising from the great extent to which these practices were carried on in many ships, during the late war, were truly wonderful, and difficult to detect. If espionnage is to be tolerated on any occasion, this is where it would have the most salutary effect. In some ships, I have observed that the first lieutenant had a few sober and confidential men to help him to unriddle the drunken mysteries of the lower deck, by which means he was enabled to detect, regulate, or punish the offenders.

It is interesting to know, that large potations do not exert a uniform influence over the same individual. This seems to be owing to the state of the atmosphere at the time; for instance, during the continuation of moist or foggy weather, a greater quantity of ardent spirits may be drunk without producing the same

? Medico-Chirurigical Journal.

2 During the late war (when prize-money was plentiful), a private marine informed me, he was in the habit of saving thirty pounds per annum y selling his grog.

baneful effects on the brain or constitution, that would have taken place under a cold dry atmosphere.'

This, I believe, is to be accounted for on the well-known chemical principle, "that all condensation produces heat, and all evaporation cold." Hence, it will follow, that the greater capacity the air has for moisture, the greater will be the abstraction of heat from the body by it. On the contrary, when the air is nearly saturated with humidity, little heat will be evaporated; and, when fully saturated, none at all: the point of saturation being where the cooling process stops. And thus the sensation of cold is produced not altogether from the low temperature of the atmosphere, but partly from the difference there is between the air and the point at which condensation of vapour takes place; and, partly too, from the strength of the wind at the time.3

These observations are important, as, by the hygrometric state of the atmosphere, we are enabled to calculate, pretty accurately, the quantum of injury the men will be exposed to in washing decks, and to ascertain the fittest weather to be chosen for that purpose.

The best hygrometric measure is that recommended by Mr. Colebrooke. Two thermometers, with the scales detached from the bulb, are to be used. The bulb of the one is to be wetted with a rag, and, after a short time, the mercury will be observed to fall to that point at which condensation of vapor takes place. And the difference between this point, and the other thermometer, showing the temperature of the atmosphere, will give the exact degree of dryness in the air; or, in other words, its capacity for moisture.

Sir Walter Scott has observed that, in the Hebrides, where moisture is frequent, less harm is sustained by drinking spirituous liquors than elsewhere.

2 "Water, in being converted into vapor combines with more than five times the quantity of caloric that it required to bring ice-cold water to a boiling heat, and occupies a space 800 times greater than it does when in the form of water."

3 The natural heat of the human body is 98° of Fahrenheit's thermometer-any temperature applied to it lower than 98° gives a sensation of cold, but if the temperature applied is not below 62°, the sensation of cold will not continue long, but be soon changed to a sensation of heat; and in this climate, air, &c. applied to the living man, does not diminish the temperature of the body, unless the temperature of it be below 62°; if it is above that, it increases it.-Cullen's First Lines, vol. 1. p. 130.

Although this observation may be generally correct, yet there are circumstances where I most humbly beg to differ from this celebrated physician. An individual, living in a moist lower deck, for instance, at a time when the air has a great capacity for moisture, will experience the sensation of cold, though the thermometer may range several degrees above 62° besides, the cooling process is much increased by diminished atmospheric pressure.