James Lind

James Lind, who lived from 1716 to 1794, was a Scottish physician and a pioneer of naval hygiene in the Royal Navy. Born in Edinburgh, he joined the navy as a surgeon's mate in 1739, and in 1747, as ship surgeon of HMS Salisbury, he ran one of the first clinical trials, comparing dietary treatments for scurvy among twelve patients, in which those given citrus fruits did best. After leaving the navy he took his medical degree at Edinburgh and published a treatise on scurvy in 1753. In 1758 he became chief physician of the Royal Naval Hospital Haslar, where he argued for better ventilation, cleaner bodies, clothing and bedding, and fumigation on ships, and proposed distilling sea water for fresh water. He advanced preventive medicine and the understanding of nutrition, and was a founding member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.