This collective publication of Transactions of the Royal Society for 1776, running to altogether 53 articles on a rich variety of subjects, includes two original works by James Cook, who appeared in print surprisingly little during his illustrious career. The first piece (pp. 402-6) is Cook's famous account of the measures taken on the Resolution during the second voyage to combat scurvy, in which he discusses the merits of malt, "Sour Krout", "portable soup" and citrus fruit. Cook's piece is addressed to the Royal Society's president, Sir John Pringle, who read it on Cook's behalf to the Society, in the absence of Cook himself, then just beginning his final voyage. It was awarded the Society's famous Copley medal for 1776.

This collective publication of Transactions of the Royal Society for 1776, running to altogether 53 articles on a rich variety of subjects, includes two original works by James Cook, who appeared in print surprisingly little during his illustrious career. The first piece (pp. 402-6) is Cook's famous account of the measures taken on the Resolution during the second voyage to combat scurvy, in which he discusses the merits of malt, "Sour Krout", "portable soup" and citrus fruit. Cook's piece is addressed to the Royal Society's president, Sir John Pringle, who read it on Cook's behalf to the Society, in the absence of Cook himself, then just beginning his final voyage. It was awarded the Society's famous Copley medal for 1776.

Cook was also responsible for another article in the same year, his piece (pp. 447-9) on the tides 'in Endeavour River, on the East Coast of New Holland'. Yet a third piece in the volume relates to Cook's second voyage, William Anderson, surgeon on the Resolution, contributing "An Account of some Poisonous Fish in the South Seas".