Forum rules
Welcome to the Leverguns.Com General Discussions Forum. This is a high-class place so act respectable. We discuss most anything here other than politics... politely.
Please post political post in the new Politics forum.
Those sitting down to nutritious meals usually do not consider what would happen if fresh vegetables and fruit or vitamin-supplemented juices and cereals were not routinely available. Centuries ago, sailors experienced such a lack first-hand: swollen and bleeding gums, loose teeth, hemorrhaging under the skin, and slowed healing of wounds. What we now know as vitamin C was in short supply on most ships, and human bodies reacted by developing the condition known as scurvy. Death could, and often did, quickly follow, thousands of miles away from otherwise life-sustaining provisions.
Scurvy had long been the scourge of those who sailed for extended distances without fresh food and supplies, with the first clear-cut descriptions of the malady appearing in the medieval records of the European Crusades. Toward the end of the 15th century, scurvy was cited as the major cause of disability and mortality among sailors on long sea voyages. Although Danish mariners were long acquainted with the condition, and included lemons and oranges in their marine stores, it was not until 1753 that scurvy was recognized in the British medical community at large as directly related to dietary deficiency.
In 1769, William Stark, a young British physician, began a series of experiments on diet and nutrition, using himself as the experimental subject. After consuming only bread and water for 31 days, Stark added other foods to his diet one by one, including olive oil, figs, goose meat, and milk. In two months, Stark recorded that his gums were red and swollen, bleeding easily to the touch. Seven months later he died, possibly from scurvy, and likely from the cumulative effects of malnutrition. Stark’s diet was heavy on meat and starch, but devoid of fresh vegetables and citrus fruits.
Twelve years before Stark’s ill-fated experiments, Scottish physician James Lind, having observed the preventive and curative powers of citrus fruits and lemon juice during his years as a naval surgeon, wrote a treatise recommending their mandatory consumption by British sailors. By 1795, Lind’s advocacy had resulted in the issuance of lime juice to all naval vessels and the gradual elimination of scurvy within the entire British fleet. At the time, no one, including Lind, knew of the existence of ascorbic acid, which would eventually become commonly known as vitamin C.
It would take more years to pinpoint the scurvy-prevention substance responsible for maintaining the body’s connective tissues. That would take the meticulous work of a brilliant Hungarian-born researcher named Albert Szent-Györgyi, whose isolation and identification of vitamin C and discovery of the metabolic mechanism that enables its use within cells would be recognized with a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Contrast that to today's protocol-following, afraid-to-think-on-their-own docs...
I find the 'little' discoveries of the old days (before modern technology made it 'easy' to discover things) more impressive than the more technologic ones of today.
It's 2025 - "Cutesy Time is OVER....!" [Dan Bongino]
Kind of different definitions of 'closed' and 'open' so it gets confusing semantically.
Back to the original topic though - I also remember the case where the doctor intentionally ingested some bacteria to prove they caused ulcers - they did....!
It's 2025 - "Cutesy Time is OVER....!" [Dan Bongino]
Some time ago I read a "quip" that says ;
"The human mind is like a parachute, both only function when open".
The internet has created great opportunities to increase knowledge and has also apparently achieved the opposite as well. It spreads misinformation too easily.
Kind of different definitions of 'closed' and 'open' so it gets confusing semantically.
Back to the original topic though - I also remember the case where the doctor intentionally ingested some bacteria to prove they caused ulcers - they did....!
excellent men with excellent minds produce excellent benefits for the rest of us
