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garius's profile
John Bull
John Bull
John Bull
@garius

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John Bull

@garius

Historian. Grand strategy streamer. Tech/Transport Journalist. Editor of @lonrec. Made Neil Gaiman cry. Twice. FULLY AWARE CATS ARE LACTOSE INTOLERANT. He/Him

Walthamstow, England
twitch.tv/gariusthebrit
Joined July 2007

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    1. John Bull‏ @garius 12 Jul 2019

      FROM THAT POINT, the Royal Navy starts carrying fresh fruit, or convoying it out to ships on blockade. This is a CRITICAL FACTOR in it's dominance of the sea in the 19th Century, and why it is able to blockade France completely in the Napoleonic war. Because it can stay at sea.

      2 replies 11 retweets 193 likes
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    2. John Bull‏ @garius 12 Jul 2019

      ~~wobbly lines wobbly lines ~~ Over the next 100ys, regulations, the world, budgets etc. change. The Navy is still aware of scurvy and the need to fight it, but they switch to lime juice from the West Indies, as that's easier and cheaper than fresh oranges from the mediterranean

      3 replies 10 retweets 158 likes
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    3. John Bull‏ @garius 12 Jul 2019

      The problem is, THIS LIME JUICE DOESN'T ACTUALLY STOP SCURVY. It's just that everyone THINKS it does. This is because STILL no one understands WHY fresh fruit cures scurvy. Indeed they think it's the acid in it. But it's NOT. It's the VITAMIN C.

      2 replies 12 retweets 166 likes
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    4. John Bull‏ @garius 12 Jul 2019

      Now FRESH limes worked. Limes don't contain as much Vitamin C as lemons but enough. But once it's turned into JUICE, exposed to the air and copper pipes/storage (as used, say, on naval ships) the Vitamin C content drops drastically It's now, at BEST, something that DELAYS scurvy

      3 replies 9 retweets 153 likes
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    5. John Bull‏ @garius 12 Jul 2019

      So why doesn't the Royal Navy (or anyone else) notice? Because SHIP TECH has improved as well. So journeys BY SEA are shorter (in duration) again. This means that the marginal effects of lime juice are enough to mean that sailors / passengers are in port before scurvy kicks in.

      4 replies 9 retweets 163 likes
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    6. John Bull‏ @garius 12 Jul 2019

      Unfortunately, the same ISN'T true for arctic/antarctic explorers. And this proves FATAL for Scott's antarctic expedition. Scurvy is one of the reasons they die, and thus exploration FINALLY highlights that people have forgotten how to stop it. Enter the Norwegian Guinea pigs.

      6 replies 17 retweets 193 likes
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    7. John Bull‏ @garius 12 Jul 2019

      In 1907, two Norwegian scientists (Axel Holst and Theodor Frølich) are studying Beriberi. They believe it is caused by nutritional issues. They decide to test this by feeding guinea pigs grain ONLY, and seeing if they develop beriberi like symptoms. They don't. THEY GET SCURVY.

      5 replies 9 retweets 167 likes
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    8. John Bull‏ @garius 12 Jul 2019

      The sheer luck of this, for understanding scurvy, is hard to overstate. Remember how I said at the beginning that most creatures - apart from us and primates - can synthesise their own Vitamin C? Guinea pigs are one of the vanishingly small number of other species that can't!

      1 reply 7 retweets 207 likes
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    9. John Bull‏ @garius 12 Jul 2019

      Reports of Holst and Frølich's scurvy-ridden guinea pigs prick the interest of Hungarian biochemist Albert Szent-Györgyi, who was fascinated with organic acids and their effects. He takes that work forward In 1937 Szent-Györgyi wins the Nobel Prize for the discovery of Vitamin C

      1 reply 13 retweets 197 likes
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    10. John Bull‏ @garius 12 Jul 2019

      And THAT is how the cure for scurvy was discovered, lost, and recovered. And why, IMHO, there should be a statue of two guinea pigs outside the Admiralty: a monument to the importance of logistics and discovery to naval history, and a warning of what happens when we forget them.

      14 replies 78 retweets 651 likes
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      John Bull‏ @garius 12 Jul 2019

      OBLIGATORY END OF THREAD BITS: If you enjoyed this you can buy me a coffee here: https://ko-fi.com/garius  If you like weird medical history you may enjoy my piece on how Quincy changed the way drugs are made:https://medium.com/@garius/how-quincy-m-e-changed-medical-history-7c57b629a0b4 …

      3:24 AM - 12 Jul 2019
      • 45 Retweets
      • 228 Likes
      • Calixto Lopez Meredith is weary BrokenPonies Joseph Cherie Barnes Richard Sewell Skip Lacaze health hiatus :) AK Lee 🤙
      6 replies 45 retweets 228 likes
        1. New conversation
        2. John Bull‏ @garius 12 Jul 2019

          If you like near historical misses, you may like my Pristina airport incident account: https://medium.com/lapsed-historian/pristina-an-airport-too-far-42e010e19f12 … Or how a computer glitch almost made the Cold War hot: https://medium.com/lapsed-historian/the-day-the-world-didnt-end-76b9deececcc … And the rest of my history stuff is here:https://medium.com/@garius 

          5 replies 18 retweets 126 likes
          Show this thread
        3. John Bull‏ @garius 12 Jul 2019

          John Bull Retweeted John Bull

          Oh, and HUGE shout out to @lrbudd for reminding me about this whole element of awesome naval history in the ongoing chat about interesting history over here:https://twitter.com/garius/status/1149587770127446017 …

          John Bull added,

          John Bull @garius
          Friday historian fun: what's ONE thing you like telling people about an event they think they know that makes them stop and go 'whaaat'? Me: Trafalgar was COLLINGWOOD's victory not Nelson's. Nelson was shot and died earlyish in the battle. Collingwood steps up and wins it. pic.twitter.com/XKM9dMLI8H
          2 replies 3 retweets 89 likes
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        4. John Bull‏ @garius 12 Jul 2019

          ADDENDUM: (and again, thanks to @lrbudd) you can read a proper, non-twitter article WITH SCIENCE on the scurvy thing (and its impact on the Scott expedition) here: https://idlewords.com/2010/03/scott_and_scurvy.htm …

          13 replies 14 retweets 94 likes
          Show this thread
        5. John Bull‏ @garius 22 Jul 2019

          John Bull Retweeted John Bull

          ADDED ADDENDUM If you liked this, I've also written about how the Knights Hospitaller ended up with an air force. No reallyhttps://mobile.twitter.com/garius/status/1151832864494903296 …

          John Bull added,

          John Bull @garius
          Sod Pepsi's navy. Let's talk about the point after WW2 where the Knights Hospitaller, of medieval crusading fame, 'accidentally' became a major European air power. I shitteth ye not. 🛩️🛩️
          Show this thread
          1 reply 1 retweet 21 likes
          Show this thread
        6. John Bull‏ @garius 11 Oct 2019

          John Bull Retweeted John Bull

          MOAR ADDENDUMS Here's my look at how Orders in Council were used to help kick off the process of banning the slave trade in Britainhttps://twitter.com/garius/status/1177551865438986240 …

          John Bull added,

          John Bull @garius
          Orders of/in Council are in the news. HISTORY THREAD TIME! Meet James Stephen and Spencer Perceval, the playboy and the evangelist, the ODDEST political friends ever. And the chaps who worked out how to ban slavery WITHOUT Parliament approval. It would cost one of them his life
          Show this thread
          1 reply 1 retweet 10 likes
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        7. End of conversation
        1. notjarvis‏ @notjarvis 12 Jul 2019
          Replying to @garius @RCgothic

          First time I've heard that Quincy story. Utterly fascinating and inspiring

          0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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        1. illuminatus‏ @illuminatus 12 Jul 2019
          Replying to @garius

          Quincy was genuinely innovative, and had a heart and a brain. I loved it as a kid. The weed episode is a total shocker, though...

          0 replies 0 retweets 2 likes
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        1. Rhodri Lewis‏ @vontasben 12 Jul 2019
          Replying to @garius

          There’s a really good @99piorg episode about this too.

          0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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