James Lind scurvy while that ship was patrolling the Bay of Biscay. Just after that patrol he left the Navy, wrote his MD thesis on venereal diseases and earned his degree from the University of Edinburgh Medical School, and was granted a licence to practice in Edinburgh. Scurvy is a disease now known to be caused by a vitamin C deficiency, but in Lind's day, the concept of vitamins was unknown. Vitamin C is necessary for the maintenance of healthy connective tissue. In 1740 the catastrophic result of Anson's circumnavigation attracted much attention in Europe; out of 1900 men, 1400 had died,
In the Days of the Comet he had been a great success at the university." Leadford's only close friend is a fellow clerk and socialist. But the pair quarrel and Leadford breaks off relations when Parload avers that socialism is "only a theory," whereas science is "something more". In later years Parload becomes a great scientist whose "work upon intersecting radiations has broadened the intellectual horizon of mankind for ever." Wells's open endorsement of polyamorous love at the end of "In the Days of the Comet" caused some scandal. Various organisations dedicated to preserving public morals, including the YWCA, Salvation Army and ‘Anti-Vice and White Slavery’