“In February the Sybil was sent to the Weser, to assist in bringing away the British army, after their disastrous retreat through Holland in that awful winter. The sufferings of the troops had been dreadful during the march. They were embarked as they reached Bremer Lee, and sailed in detachments for England. The Sybil and her convoy were to take off the rear, and remained in consequence until the latter end of March. Colonels Barnes and Boardman, the first of the Guards, and the latter of the Oxford Blues, were embarked in the Sybil. About this time an extraordinary species of disease had begun to manifest itself among the marines of the Sybil; and as the discovery of its cause, and the means of its cure, must be ascribed to the acuteness of the latter of these two gentlemen, it may be regarded as a subject of thankfulness that they were passengers. Many of the men were afflicted with an ossification, or hardening of the knee joint; and this had proceeded to such an extent in several cases, that the men were lame for life. The surgeon, who was himself afflicted in the same way, and had been lame from childhood, was at a loss as to the cause of the malady; but Colonel Boardman at once threw a light upon the subject by a remark not unlikely to suggest itself to the mind of a military man. He had observed that the marines, when dressed, had thick woollen breeches, and long worsted stockings, so that during the day time, when on their post, the men had the knees doubly covered. After sunset, when off guard, the parade dress was laid aside, and canvas trowsers substituted, leaving the knee with little protection from the cold air of the night; and he inferred that the mischief in the joint arose from the sudden and violent change in the temperature maintained around it. The result proved the justness of his conjecture as to the cause of the malady; for on taking proper precautions to maintain the warmth by clothing, no further cases occurred; and the surgeon himself recollected, what it is singular he should ever have forgotten, that his own crippled state had been occasioned by exposure to cold. Trifling as this matter may seem, it is not without use to point out the benefit that may be derived from the observation of intelligent men, even of a different profession.