A manual of practical hygiene for students, physicians, and health officers / By Charles Harrington.

  • Harrington, Charles, 1856-1908.
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of practical hygiene for students, physicians, and health officers / By Charles Harrington. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

    814/992 (page 762)
    In the consolidated mess of the Indiana, as described by Decker, the crew of 380 men have a common interest, and are attended to by seven coolcs, one of the first class, two of the second, and four of the third class, a commissary yeoman, and a storeroom keeper. Funds for provisioning the mess are derived from the commuted rations and the canteen. (Here may be stated that, in the discussion of the paper noted, the canteen system, as it existed in the Navy, was the subject of severe criticism by officers of the line. It is now abolished.) The system saves much trouble, requires fcAver cooks, and by mak- ing possible the purchase of a still wider variety of food materials, in- sures greater satisfaction throughout at a diminished cost. The iDrincipal defects of all dietaries for seafaring men comprise monotony, deficiency in vegetable components, and excess of preserved meats. In order to guard against the results of an insufficient supply of antiscorbutic vegetables, the Revised Statutes require that all vessels of more than 75 tons bound across the Atlantic or Pacific or around Cape Horn or Cape of Good Hope, or engaged in whaling or sealing, shall carry a sufficient supply of lemon juice or lime juice, and vinegar, which shall be served out within ten daj'S after salt provisions have been served out, the lemon juice or lime juice at the rate of one-half ounce daily, and the vinegar at the rate of one-half pint weekly, per man. WATER SUPPLY. The satisfactoiy storage of water aboard ships is a matter of some difficulty. Small vessels, as ordinary mei'chant ships and similar craft, not pi'ovided with distilling apparatus, must necessarily carry a sufficiency of water for the passage between ports, reckoned at three quarts daily per man plus an amount sufficient for cooking. Water is stored in wooden casks and metallic tanks. Storage in casks is far from satisfactory, on account of the deterioration which occurs in the quality of the water. This is due to the action of the water in extract- ing matters from the wood, and to decomposition of these matters in- duced and carried on by the usual agencies. Casks should not be made of soft wood, and the interior should be very thoroughly charred, in order to diminish as much as possible the extraction of soluble con- stituents and to guard against decay. Tanks are commonly made of galvanized iron, lined sometimes with cement. They should be placed in easily accessible locations which admit of ready inspection and cleansing. No water should be taken on board unless its source is known and its quality is such as to preclude the danger of introducing water- borne diseases. Large vessels and steamships provided with distilling apparatus do not, of course, need to provide for the storage of large volumes of water. The water yielded by a distilling apparatus is, on the whole, far superior in quality to that which, however good origi- nally, has been stored for any considerable time. For full considera- tion of the subject of water and its storage, the reader is referred to the chapter devoted to that subject.