Lind, founder of naval hygiene in England, wrote a classic treatise on scurvy, in which he described many important experiments he made on the disease. These experiments have been called “the first deliberately planned controlled therapeutic trial ever undertaken”. Lind showed that in preserved form citrus juices could be carried for long periods on board ship, and that, if administered properly, they would prevent the disease. The application of this knowledge by naval surgeons who followed Lind led to the eventual elimination of the disease from the British Navy. Reprinted, with notes, Edinburgh, 1953.

Lind is regarded as the founder of naval hygiene in England. Besides his work on scurvy (see No.3713), he is notable for the above book, which deals not only with the men but also with the appalling conditions in which they lived afloat. He advocated measures to improve ships’ ventilation and to prevent the spread of disease aboard ship. He also caused great improvements to be made in the food on board ships of the British Navy. L. H. Roddis published a biography of Lind in 1951.

Lind came near to discovering the connection between malaria and mosquitoes. He is best remembered for his work on scurvy (No. 3713), but the above book is one of the more important early works on tropical medicine.

Von Troil’s compilation is the only contemporary printed book steming from Sir Joseph Banks’s pioneering scientfic expedition to Iceland, Banks's first and only expedition as indisputable leader. Having recently returned from the Pacific with Captain James Cook, but having just withdrawn from Cook’s proposed Second Voyage, Banks wrote in his manuscript ‘Iceland Journal’ (now at McGill) that the possibility of an independent voyage to the South Seas in 1773 encouraged him to keep his entourage together and employed ‘to the advancement of science’. Iceland was seldom visited and suggested itself as a suitable terra incognita accessible in the time available: "the whole face of the country new to the botanist and zoologist as well as the many volcanoes with which it is said to abound made it very desirable to explore." On this expedition Banks was accompanied by Daniel Solander, James Lind, and Tobern Bergman, among others. Digital facsimile from Linda Hall Library at this link. Translated into English as Letters on Iceland containing observations on the civil, literary, ecclesiastical, and natural history; antiquities, volcanoes, basaltes, hot springs; customs, dress, manners of the inhabitants ... made during a voyage undertaken in the year 1772, by Joseph Banks, Assisted by Dr. Solander, Dr. J. Lind, Dr. Uno Von Troil, and several other literary and ingenious gentlemen. Written by Uno von Troil. To which are added .... Professor Bergman's curious observations and chemical examination of the lava and other substances produced on the island. (London, 1780). Digital facsimile of the English translation from Google Books at this link.