These things however will more certainly prevent than cure the scurvy; for which reason sea-faring people, especially on long voyages, ought to lay in plenty of them. Cabbages, onions, gooseberries, and many other vegetables, may be kept a long time by _pickling_, _preserving_, &c. and when these fail, the chymical acids, recommended above, which will keep for any length of time, may be used. We have reason to believe, if ships were well ventilated, had good store of fruits, greens, cyder, &c. laid in, and if proper regard were paid to cleanliness and warmth, that sailors would be the most healthy people in the world, and would seldom suffer either from the scurvy or putrid fevers, which are so fatal to that useful set of men; but it is too much the temper of such people to despise all precaution; they will not think of any calamity till it overtakes them, when it is too late to ward off the blow. It must indeed be owned, that many of them have it not in their power to make the provision we are speaking of; but in this case it is the duty of their employers to make it for them; and no man ought to engage in a long voyage without having these articles secured. I have often seen very extraordinary effects in the land-scurvy from a milk diet. This preparation of Nature is a mixture of animal and vegetable properties, which of all others is the most fit for restoring a decayed constitution, and removing that particular acrimony of the humours, which seems to constitute the very essence of the scurvy, and many other diseases. But people despise this wholesome and nourishing food, because it is cheap, and devour with greediness, flesh, and fermented liquors, while milk is only deemed fit for their hogs. The most proper drink in the scurvy is whey or butter-milk. When these cannot be had, sound cyder, perry, or spruce-beer, may be used. Wort has likewise been found to be a proper drink in the scurvy, and may be used at sea, as malt will keep during the longest voyage. A decoction of the tops of the spruce fir is likewise proper. It may be drank in the quantity of an English pint twice a-day. Tar-water may be used for the same purpose, or decoctions of any of the mild mucilaginous vegetables; as sarsaparilla, marsh-mallow roots, &c. Infusions of the bitter plants, as ground-ivy, the lesser centaury, marsh-trefoil, &c. are likewise beneficial. I have seen the peasants in some parts of Britain express the juice of the last-mentioned plant, and drink it with good effect in those foul scorbutic eruptions with which they are often troubled in the spring season.