If Captain Cook had made no important discoveries, if he had not determined the question concerning a southern continent, his name would have been entitled to immortality, on account of his humane attention to, and his unparalleled success in preserving the lives and health of his seamen.
He had good reason, upon this head, to assume the pleasurable, but modest language, with which he has concluded his narrative of his second navigation round the globe: 'Whatever,' says he, 'may be the public judgment about other matters, it is with real satisfaction, and without claiming any merit but that of attention to my duty, that I can, conclude this account with an observation, which facts enable us to make, that our having discovered the possibility of preserving health among a numerous ship's company, for such a length of time, in such varieties of climate, and amidst such continued hardships and fatigues, will make this voyage remarkable, in the opinion of every benevolent person, when the disputes about the southern continent shall have ceased to engage the attention, and to divide the judgment of philosophers.' It was the custom, of Sir John Pringle, at the delivery of Sir Godfrey Copley's annual medal, to give an elaborate discourse, containing the history of that part of science for the improvement of which the medal was conferred.

Upon the present occasion, the president had a subject to enlarge upon, which was perfectly congenial to his disposition and studies.

His own life had been much employed in pointing out the means which tended not only to cure, but to prevent, the diseases of mankind; and, therefore, it was with peculiar pleasure and affection that he celebrated the conduct of his friend, who, by precautions equally wise and simple, had rendered the circumnavigation of the globe, so far as health is concerned, quite a harmless undertaking.
Towards the beginning of his discourse, Sir John justly asks, 'What inquiry can be so useful as that which hath for its object the saving the lives of men?
and when shall we find one more successful than that before us?
Here,' adds the president, 'are no vain boastings of the empiric, nor ingenious and delusive theories of the dogmatist; but a concise and artless, and an incontested relation of the means by which, under divine favour, Captain Cook, with a company of a hundred and eighteen men, performed a voyage of three years and eighteen days, throughout all the climates, from fifty-two degrees north to seventy-one degrees south, with the loss of only one man by sickness.
I would now inquire.' proceeds Sir John Pringle, 'of the most conversant to the study of bills of mortality, whether, in the most healthful climate, and in the best condition of life, they have ever found so small a number of deaths within that space of time?
How great and agreeable then must our surprise be, after perusing the histories of long navigations in former days, when so many perished by marine diseases, to find the air of the sea acquitted of all malignity; and, in fine, that a voyage round the world may be undertaken with less danger, perhaps, to health, than a common tour in Europe!' In the progress of his discourse; the president recounted the dreadful calamities and destruction the scurvy had heretofore brought upon mariners in voyages of great length; after which he pointed out at large, and illustrated with his own observations, the methods pursued by Captain Cook for preserving the health of his men.

In conclusion, Sir John remarked, that the Royal Society never more cordially or more meritoriously bestowed the gold medal, that faithful symbol of their esteem and affection.

'For if,' says he, 'Rome decreed the civic crown to him who saved the life of a single citizen, what wreaths are due to that man, who, having himself saved many, perpetuates in your transactions the means by which Britain may now, on the most distant voyages, preserve numbers of her intrepid sons, her _mariners_; who, braving every danger, have so liberally contributed to the fame, to the opulence, and to the maritime empire of their country!'[10] [Footnote 10: Sir John Pringle's Six Discourses, p.