TROTTER, Thomas

Medicina Nautica: an essay on the diseases of seamen.

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Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme London, 1804. Three volumes, octavo, engraved plate, occasional spotting and light browning; a handsome set in contemporary speckled calf, neatly rebacked with the original spines laid down, crimson morocco title labels and green morocco volume lozenges to each, gilt. A particularly attractive set of the uncommon second edition of this foundation work of nautical medicine.

Trotter was one of the most important figures in the development of naval medicine, and his interest in practical reforms were very influential. He was appointed a naval surgeon in 1782 and to Admiral Roddam's staff in 1793; the following year he was appointed physician to the fleet. In the intervening years, however, he had engaged himself to a Liverpool Guineaman (a slaver) which experienced a virulent outbreak of scurvy: it was this that prompted him to publish his exceedingly rare pamphlet, Observations on the Scurvy (1786). A champion of the discoveries of his predecessor James Lind, it was in the Observations that Trotter endorsed the use of lemon juice as a specific.

Invalided to a half-pension because of injury, Trotter devoted much of his life to his literary work, and Medicina Nautica is widely recognised not only as his most important collection, but also as the best synthesis of accounts of the health and condition of seamen in the Napoleonic period. He played an important part in the victory over scurvy, writing: 'There is no part of my medical labours that has afforded me more satisfaction, than what relates to the prevention and cure of scurvy'. By the time this work was published the use of lemon juice was standard practice in the British navy.

Apart from including his work on scurvy, the books deals with the general health of the fleet, with notes on, for instance, contagion, typhus, yellow fever, dysentery, venereal disease, fractures, lockjaw, drunkenness, phthisis, seasickness and, not least, vaccination. It was Trotter who introduced this last practice into the Royal Navy, and who organised the presentation of a medal from the Naval Surgeons to Edward Jenner (hence the inclusion of an engraved plate of the medal in the third volume of the present work, as well as correspondence between the two men). Trotter worked tirelessly to improve conditions on board ship, urging the growing of fresh vegetables and devoting much effort to investigating the best method of ventilating ships.
Garrison & Morton, 2159 (first edition); Norman Catalogue, 2097 (see note).

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