Page 16 - Pharmacy History 22 Mar 2004

The company has chosen to retain
all paper-based material within its archives, as well as its boardroom table and chairs. All remaining objects are catalogued and securely stored at CSL Ltd.
A selection of objects from the collection will appear on display in the Mind and Body Gallery at Melbourne
book review
Scurvy
Museum as part of the Treasures exhibition, which opens in May, commemorating 150 years of Museum Victoria.
Museum Victoria’s acquisition of artefacts, in conjunction with the company archives, will appropriately document CSL’s important history, and its role in Australian medical and
veterinary research and public health. This happy outcome would not have been possible without the efforts of many individuals and institutions, in particular, the Health and Medical Museums.
From “The Hammer”, the Health & Medicines Museum Newsletter April 2004, No 26.
How a Surgeon, a Mariner and a Gentleman Solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age of Sail. Author: Stephen Bown.
We all know now the benefits of Vitamin C in our diet and how easy it is to swallow a few tablets to prevent colds or other minor maladies.
In the days of sail, a time period that began with Columbus’ voyages across the Atlantic and ended in the mid- 19th century, Scurvy was responsible for more deaths at sea than storms, shipwreck, combat and all other diseases combined.
In the late 18th century the surgeon James Lind, Captain James Cook and the physician Sir Gilbert Blane, undertook to crack the riddle of scurvy, which they did to a certain extent, but did not really understand why.
It was a timely discovery for Britain and the Royal Navy, as Napoleon was mobilising for the conquest of Europe and despite having superior land and sea numbers, the French and their Spanish allies failed because sick men cannot win wars.
A cure for the disease had eluded doctors since the time of the ancient Greeks, and it was not confined to mariners, as scurvy was also prevalent during the Irish potato famine and the California gold rush in 1849.
It was described as an infantile disease in the 1880s, but it took another 50 years of research until Albert Szent- Gyorgy first isolated Ascorbic Acid in 1932.
“Scurvy” is both a history and a detective story and makes for very good reading.
Published by Viking in hardback, it costs $35.00 in Australia.
16 ■ Pharmacy History Australia
volume 2 ■ no 23 ■ July 2004