James Lind

James Lind was born in Edinburgh on 4 October 1716 and apprenticed to a surgeon before joining the Royal Navy as a surgeon's mate in 1739. Scurvy, caused by lack of vitamin C, killed more British sailors than enemy action on long voyages. In 1747, as surgeon of HMS Salisbury, Lind took twelve sailors with scurvy, kept them on the same diet and divided them into six pairs, each given a different remedy: cider, dilute sulphuric acid, vinegar, sea water, a paste of spices, or two oranges and a lemon a day. The pair given citrus fruit recovered rapidly, one fit for duty within about a week. This is often cited as one of the first controlled clinical trials. Lind left the navy, took his medical degree in Edinburgh and published A Treatise of the Scurvy in 1753. From 1758 he was chief physician of the Royal Naval Hospital at Haslar, where he also worked on shipboard hygiene and on distilling fresh water from sea water. The navy did not adopt lemon juice as a standard ration until 1795, the year after his death on 13 July 1794.

Faith: Faith not well documented. Source: Wikipedia

See also: Edward Jenner · Walter Reed · Florence Nightingale