British naval surgeons and tropical hygiene in the long nineteenth century

This presentation explores how the treatment of British seamen aided the development of tropical hygiene in the long nineteenth century. The paper will be of interest to staff and students who want to know more about the history of British naval and maritime medicine, as well as the broader histories of tropical medicine, race, and empire.
 
This paper explores the dynamic nature of British naval medicine in the tropics, which stemmed from the ability of surgeons to travel, experiment, and observe patients in the Indian ocean. It discusses how acquired knowledge of maritime and tropical diseases was translated into a broad spectrum of preventive medicine, constituted through efforts to improve diet, sanitation, and hygiene. The presentation looks at the medical knowledge produced in Britain, in transit, and in India, exploring how the expression of racial pathology in maritime medical writings was rooted in ideas about the relationship between health, location and bodies in transit. Over the course of the nineteenth century, this relationship informed, among others, two major discussions: the impact of tropical climate on the physical constitution of the British body, and the development of climate- and body-specific preventive medicine. By illustrating the relationship between maritime medical innovation and the politics of public health, it examines how empirical observation and experimentation on the diseased bodies of British seamen aided the development of tropical hygiene.