born 1716, Edinburgh, Scot.
died July 13, 1794, Gosport, Hampshire, Eng.
Scottish naval surgeon and physician.
Having observed thousands of scurvy , typhus , and dysentery cases and the shipboard conditions that caused them, he published A Treatise on Scurvy in 1754, a time when scurvy killed more British sailors than combat. He recommended giving citrus fruits and juices (sources of vitamin C ) to sailors on long voyages, a practice known to the Dutch for nearly two centuries. When the practice was fully instituted in 1795, scurvy disappeared from the ranks "as if by magic." Lind also suggested shipboard delousing and use of hospital ships, and he arranged for distillation of seawater for drinking.