The facts which give a suspicion of the scurvy being infectious are, 1st, What is related by Dr. Lind, that the sea scurvy spread at one time from the naval hospital to the people of the adjacent country. 2dly, There occurred several instances, in the first part of this work, of this disease prevailing to a much greater degree in some[123] particular ships than others, though upon the most accurate inquiry there was found no difference in the diet, or any other external or predisposing cause adequate to account for this. We can conceive, that those ships having accidentally a few men, whose constitutions were remarkably predisposed to this disease, might catch it earlier than in other ships, and communicate it to the rest of the crew. The only practical inference that would lie from the establishment of this fact would be, that when the disease begins first to appear, the men affected should be separated from the rest; and this is a good practice, whether this opinion is true or not; for such men ought to be put in one mess, in order that they all may live upon the same antiscorbutic articles of diet, and that they may more easily be debarred from the use of their common provisions, of which this disease does not make them lose the relish. CHAP. IV. Of the WOUNDS received in the Actions of April, 1782. Loss in the Battle and from Wounds--Fatality of the locked Jaw--Treatment of it--Some Ships more subject to it than others--Different from other Cases of Tetanus--It is not cured by the Removal of the Part--It may come on after the Part is cured--Effect of Climate in producing it--Accidents from the Wind of a Ball--Accidents from the Explosion of Gunpowder--Means of preventing them--General Observations on Sores and Wounds. Though surgery was not properly in my department, yet, having had a fair opportunity of collecting facts concerning this branch of practice, I thought it my duty to pay some attention to it. The whole number of men wounded in the actions of April, 1782, amounted to eight hundred and ten. Of these, sixty died on board before the end of the month, five in the course of the following month, and two in June. There were ninety-seven wounded men sent to the hospital at Port Royal, of whom there had died twenty-one when the fleet left Jamaica on the 17th of July. So that the whole loss of men in the battles of April, and their consequences, is as follows: Killed outright 266 Died of their wounds on board 67 Died of their wounds at the hospital 21 --- Total 354