
Luke Batterham
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FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY of Gilbert Blane's treatise in defence of flogging as a punishment in the military and navy. Scarce, COPAC recording only two copies. Blane (1749-1834) was an important pioneer of naval medicine, instrumental in riding the Royal Navy of scurvy, authorizing in 1795 for lemon juice to be universally distributed throughout the navy, and insisting that all naval surgeons compiled detailed data on medical matters. He argues that flogging was "a preventative warning to the community at large". This copy was presented to Lord Althorp, second Earl Spencer, one-time First Lord of the Admiralty.