Kent was filled with French prisoners, the scurvy broke out among them, notwithstanding they had never been served with salted victuals in England; but had daily had an allowance of fresh meat, and of bread in proportion, though without greens or any other vegetable.  The surgeon who attended them, and from whom I received this information, having formerly been employed in the navy, was the better able to judge of the disorder and to cure it.  Besides the deficiency of herbs, he observed that the wards were foul and crowded, the house damp (from a moat that surrounded it) and that the bounds allotted for taking the air were so small, and in wet weather so sloughy, that the men seldom went out.  He added, that a representation having been made, he had been empowered to furnish the prisoners with roots and greens for boiling in their soup, and to quarter the sick in a neighbouring village in a dry situation, with liberty to go out for air and exercise; and that by these means they had all quickly recovered.  It is probable, that the scurvy sooner appeared among these strangers, from their having been taken at sea, and consequently more disposed to the disease.  My informer further acquainted me, that in the lower and wetter parts of that county, where some of his practice lay, he had now and then met with slighter cases of the scurvy among the common people; such, he said, as lived the whole winter on salted bacon, without fermented liquors, greens, or fruit, a few apples excepted; but, he remarked, that in the winters following a plentiful growth of apples, those peasants were visibly less liable to the disorder.

I have dwelt the longer on this part of my subject, as I look upon the knowledge of the nature and cause of the scurvy to be an essential step towards improving the means of prevention and cure.  And I am persuaded, after mature reflection, and the opportunities I have had of conversing with those who, to much sagacity, had joined no small experience in nautical practice, that upon an examination of the several articles, which have either been of old approven, or have of late been introduced into the navy, it will be evident, that though these means may vary in form, and in their mode of operating; yet they all some way contribute towards preventing or correcting putrefaction, whether of the air in the closer parts of a ship, of the meats, of the water, of the clothes and bedding, or of the body itself.  And if in this inquiry (which may be made by the way, whilst we take a review of the principal articles of provision, and other methods used by Captain Cook to guard against the scurvy) I say, if in this inquiry it shall appear, that the notion of a septic or putrid origin, is not without foundation, it will be no small encouragement to proceed on that principle, in order further to improve this important branch of medicine.