James Lind (1716 - 1794)
Lind was a Scottish doctor, and an expert on the treatment of scurvy.
James Lind was born in Edinburgh in 1716. In 1731, he registered as an apprentice at the College of Surgeons in Edinburgh and in 1739 became a surgeon's mate, seeing service with the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean, Guinea and the West Indies, as well as the English Channel. In 1747, while serving as surgeon on HMS Salisbury, he carried out experiments to discover the cause of scurvy, the symptoms of which included loose teeth, bleeding gums and internal bleeding.
Lind selected 12 men from the ship, all suffering from scurvy, and divided them into six pairs, giving each group different additions to their basic diet. Some were given cider, others seawater, others a mixture of garlic, mustard and horseradish. Another group of two were given spoonfuls of vinegar, and the last two oranges and lemons. Those fed citrus fruits experienced a remarkable recovery. While there was nothing new about his discovery - the benefits of lime juice had been known for centuries - Lind had definitively established the superiority of citrus fruits above all other 'remedies'.
Answer the following on a separate sheet of paper
- What is the question was Lind trying to answer?
- What is the manipulated variable?
- What is the responding variable?
- Write a hypothesis statement.
- Describe his test.
- What conclusions did he come to?
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