One hundred years ago
A CORRESPONDENT of the St. James's Gazette of Thursday says that the drinking of salt-water is a perfect cure for seasickness, though it makes the drinker very miserable for a few minutes after he takes the cure. The sailor who recommended it to the suf- ferer in question, accounted for it by saying that the stomach on board ship is in a very sensitive state, and that the salt-water pickles it, so that it gets hard- ened to conditions which had previously revolted it. If that were the explanation, it must be a very rapid and miraculous kind of pickling process that is effected by a pint of salt-water, not, in all proba- bility, long retained. But whatever the rationale of the supposed "sailor's rem- edy" may be, any quick remedy for so frightful a distress is worth trying; and the assertion of the sailors is said to be that it never fails.
The Spectator 14 November 1891
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