 Between the 16th and the 18th century, around 2 million sailors died at sea of a mysterious disease that caused ulcers bleeding from the nose and the mouth, an eventual death. In the 18th century, a Scottish physician, James Lind, conducted one of the first ever clinical trials. Lind took 12, 6 sailors and divided them into six groups of two, giving them all different protocols. Group five were given two oranges and one lemon. Within six days, one sailor from group five had fully recovered and the other was almost fully fit. Although he didn't understand the mechanism, Lind had inadvertently discovered the cure for scurvy, which is a deficiency of vitamin C. This is why British sailors went on to have the nickname limies, as decades after Lind's discovery, the British Royal Navy went on to give a daily lime ration to its sailors to prevent scurvy.