Housewife Remedy for Scurvy Preceded Medical Discovery

Wednesday, March 11, 2009 - 11:32 in Health & Medicine

(PhysOrg.com) -- A 100-page handwritten book by Mrs. Ebot Mitchell written in 1707 on household remedies contains among other things a recipe to treat scurvy. The recipe containing extracts from plants, orange juice, white wine or beer preceded the official medical treatment recommended by James Lind, a British naval surgeon in the late 1740's. Unfortunately, even James Lind's research was not implemented by the British Admiralty until late in the 1700's. Mrs. Mitchell's little handbook entitled "Ebot Mitchell Her Book 1707" was discovered in a house in Hasfield, Gloucestershire and is expected to fetch at auction around $831 (600 GBP) at Bonhams in London on March 24.

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