and conditions of life obtained. At the present moment in view of the actual condition of Europe, it is a fact of very grave importance that scurvy is known to break out and cause a terrible mortality among civil communities in time of scarcity–especially in prisons, workhouses, and other public institutions, which are the first to suffer deprivations when food is scarce. Three hundred years ago it was held that fresh vegetables and fruit-juices were both a cure for and a preventive of scurvy, or "anti-scorbutic." But the fact was not appreciated by Army and Admiralty officials that _dried_ vegetables, even of kinds which were held to be especially "anti-scorbutic," would not serve in place of _fresh_ ones. In 1720, _dried_ "anti-scorbutic" herbs were supplied to the Austrian Army when suffering from scurvy; but they were of no avail, and thousands of the soldiers perished from the disease. A few years later, the British Lords of the Admiralty (actuated by a spirit of blundering parsimony) proposed to supply the Navy with dried spinach, although it was well known that dried vegetables were useless against scurvy. In the American Civil War, 1861-1865, in spite of this knowledge, large rations of dried vegetables were supplied to the armies, and failed to prevent outbreaks of scurvy. Even at the present day so little attention has been given of late years to the subject, that many ignorant officials, upon whose action the life of thousands depends, regard dried vegetables as equivalent in value to fresh! A great advance was made in the second half of the eighteenth century, when the British Admiralty became convinced by the repeated experience of its officers that "lime-juice" _is_ a specific remedy and preventive for scurvy, and, in spite of the great expense and difficulties entailed, adopted its use officially. In those days of sailing-ships, long voyages (such as those of Captain Cook) were safely carried through without serious outbreak of scurvy so long as a ration of so-called "lime-juice" (about one ounce) was swallowed each day by each sailor. But it was not until the beginning of the nineteenth century that the disease was practically eliminated from the Navy by the introduction (after many foolish delays) of a general issue of what was called "lime-juice." The complete control and elimination of scurvy by the use of so-called "lime-juice" sufficed to carry us on until the introduction of steam navigation, when it became superfluous owing to the fact that long absence from land, where fresh food could be obtained, ceased to be usual. Moreover, after a mutiny on the part of our defrauded sailors, better food and greater variety of it was secured for them, and the profits of murderous contractors were stopped.