The second half of the eighteenth century saw dramatic improvements in the health of the Royal Navy and, as a result, an enhanced capacity to fight and to successfully impose tight blockades. The menace of scurvy was tamed through improved diet and the use of citrus juice; and smallpox stopped in its tracks by a prompt programme of vaccination following the findings of Edward Jenner. The causes of typhus and malaria remained a mystery, but strides...
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History