The first double-blind, randomized controlled trial, which later became the norm in medicine: in the Royal Navy, a doctor provided placebos and various experiments with supposed drugs to treat scurvy. The result was that a mixture of lemon and orange juice kept scurvy at bay. The Royal Navy soon acquired supplies of oranges, which led to a protectorate over Sicily. In 1747, James Lind, a naval surgeon aboard the Salisbury, selected 12 men suffering from scurvy with similar symptoms. Instead of the usual diet of salted meat and biscuit, he fed them a uniform staple diet of sweetened oatmeal, mutton broth, boiled biscuits, barley, sago, rice, raisins, sultanas, and wine. And then another part of the diet, diversified in pairs: two sailors receive a quart of cider a day each, two more receive vinegar, two more diluted sulfuric acid (these two are not lucky…), two more a pint of seawater a day (and I don’t envy them either), two more a mixture of nutmeg, garlic, mustard, gum myrrh, cream of tartar, and barley tea, and finally the last two (lucky ones) are given two oranges and a lemon a day. In just six days, the last pair of men recovers and can resume work on board, much to the relief of the others who see their “treatment” suspended.
