The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-12-28
Grentna telegraph
A TOUCH OF THE eOUT.

"that gout, unlike any other disease, kills more
rich men than poor, more wise than simple.
Great kings emporors, generals, admirals, and
philosophers have all died Of gout. Hereby
Nature shows her impartalty, since those
whom she fayors in one way As she aficts in an
other" IL is always the rich uncle or father IN
the farce, OF the king in the burlesque or the
leading statesman in parliament, who lmps with
gouty Leg and, until Of late years, when gout
has become rather common among the poor
there has been sense that g0ut was,
at any rate, a respectable disease 10 have.
savagos never have il. There can be no doubt that
it is one Of the fruits Of civilization, and very
early fruit. Gout troubled the old gentleman who
sat IN the Ateopagus, and they had it in all forms.
Iher physicians called IL foot seizure (pOda-
graz when it seized the foot, a hand seizure
(chiragra) when It took its victim by the hand, or
gonaga If it Inched the knee, or arhritis II It in.
iamcd several joints. IL was first called gout at
the end Of the thirteenth century, from the Latin
for drop, because ii was supposed to BE- lu sed
by humor distilled drop by drop into the joints.
Seneca counted il among the signs of Roman de
generation in luxury that even the women 60
their equal share Of gOut gout being disease
rare in women and, when 1t docs occur, occur.
ring in them usual when they are advanced in
life. The disease, said doctor Of Galen's time,
is one that none but the gods can truly under
stand its coming and going and that the doctor
told the case OF gouty man, who, in an interval
-
games. In much later time the appearance OF
the chalk stones formed in gouty joints combined
with knowledge Of one cause Of gout to suggest
the theory, that they were deposits of the tartar
of wine. IL crusty port venting its crustiaess
upon its iliends.
Suppose that man who considers himself
quite healthy is to have bis first attack of gout
lie goes TO bed happy, and is awakened after
few hours sleep, usually between one and four in
the morning, with pain in the ball of one great
toe, which increases with a sense of burning and
10 I'M Tho N nnyrfn anFu uinN hail hfa
toe is swollen with a deep red shining skin.
Moreover, IL is so eXquistely tender, that during
she height Of the attack he cannot bear the
weight OF the bed clothes OF the shaking of the bed
by footsteps in the room, There are a series Of
such attacks. Then the swelling sbates In a
few days the skin itches and peels OF, and there
is In the joint only some little remaining ten
- derness. That is the form Of brisk attack in a
man otherwise healthy. Gout has partality
for gnawing at a mans great toe. OF five
hundred and sixteen cases of gout observed by
Sr c. ScudRmore, three hundred and fourteen
seized on the great toe of one foot only, twenty
seven fastened upon both the great toes,
put only two fastened upon the thumb only
fifteen touched in ANY way the hand or wrist
In not more than five cases in hundred, in
point of fact, is any joint affected with the
true gout where the big toe has not been, or
is not, also sufferer, and in those cases there
has usually been some local injury to cause the
gout TO appear first In some other than its
natural place. As for the pain, "Screw yoHr
joint" said a FTenchman, Sin a vice till you
can. no longer bear the pressure, that is rhcu-
matism then give the vice another twist, that's
gout." Gout having once seized on its chosen
outwork has a tendency to fight its way up
ward, first storming the ankles, then making an
ugly rush upon the knee, then taking possession
OF the hands above the elbows. There used TO be
superstition that gout lengthens life, and Cullen
endorsed the maxim that the only remedy for it
was patience and flannel" But he would not
now be considered wise man who should resign
himself thus to the mercy of an enemy that
deal fatal blows, though it does usually kill when
IL has made death welcome by depriving life of
all its pleasure. man otherwise healthy, who
is careful of diet, may indeed live beyond his
eighheth year after suffering from gOut
for more han half century; he may remain
free from Gladstone, stiffness, aud de-
foTmity, and suffer only few and slight attacks
in his old age. But with many the gout remains
long enough in joint TO destroy its heXibi.ity,
or 10 deposit chalkstones, which were 30 called
when people supposed them so to be. They are
not chalk, and they may contain no particle of
lime but they contain large proportion of a salt
-urate-of soda Chalkstones are much more
commonly absent than present; or they are not
very often present as visible Disagreement. In q
slight degree they often to be found and
if they occur anywhere n any degree, they
are found usually on the ear, commonly near
the thin upper edge, as little pearly spots,
or q single spot that may be smaller than q
pins head they give out, when picked, O
milky fluid; or such spot may be as large
as split pea, and, when hard, is firmly
fastened to the gristle of the ear. These testify
TO the altered condition Of the blood, the
difference being that while 1t may retain all
other natural constituents in just proportion, 1t
has two constituents, always there, bat properly
only in small proportion, combined as urate of
soda, and existing in unnatural excess. IL Is the
business Of the kidneys 20 remove all but very
little of the uTate Of soda formed within the body.
When they fail TO do that, and It aecumulates It's
irritation causes gout. DIR. Garrod whose book
on the subject representing the researches of seven
teen years, has contriyed an ingenious way of dis
covering whether man has equity blood. He puts
into fiat glass dish about q spoonful of the
serum or fluid part of the blood to be
tested, adds 9 few drops Of ascetic acid, and
then puts into the mixture one or two fine but
rough ultimate hbres from piece Of unwashed
huckaback or other linen. After standing unds-
turbed two or three days-the time VAR ying with
the state Of the atmosphere-if there be too much
uric acid in the blood it will have crystallized
like sugar candy round the linen fibre, and its
crystals will easily be recogn zed under the micro
scope. These facts, apparently so simple, repre-
sent marked recent advance in medical know
ledge. Apart from the different course OF symp-
tOms the presence Of an excess Ofiths acid In
the blood, as shown by the thread test, emphati-
eaIy prevents all possible confusion between
gout and rheumatism. Where the lserum of
freshly drawn blood will show 1t, it will be shown
also by the fluid that blister draws If it be not
a blister placed over an lnfiamed surface
But If urate Of soda in she blood gives men the
gout, what gives them the urate of soda? Is 1t
all the doing of old crusty port Certainly not.
In the first place there is hereditary tendency
SO strong that DIR. Cullen even thought all gout
hereditary. In three cases out Of five, or at any
rate in more than half the cases. gout may be
traced back 10 parents or grandparents. 1t is
part of many mans rich inheritance. "a few
years since" says DR.. Garrod, :" / was consulted
by gentleman aboring under severe form OF
gout, with ehalkstene, and, although not more
than fifty years old, he had suffered from the
disease for n long period. On inquiry, ascer-
tanned that for upwards Of four centuries the
eldest son OF the family had inyaribly been
afflicted with gout when he came into possession
of the femily estalel
And so when man sets up for himself
gout that he has not inherited, he has some
thing at any rate which be will probably leave
10 his children. A first attack Of gout is sell
dom seen in a patient younger than twenty or
older than siXty-siX, the greater number OF such
attacks occur between the thirtieth and for
tieth year; but inherited gout sometimes ap-
usn pears very early When a man sets up gOut
keN.r himself, 'he gets it by use of fermented
Kol1auks. Had there been no fermented drinks,
- !, probably would never have existed. But
n TiyA,6nt drinks tend in different degrees TO
bs' Comm, It, and the latest information on that
an, 1asrisois worth having II is not the alcohol
LS tor O'Hn IT, Brandy or gin or whisky-any
IS1 of the old Tit taken by itself-seems to have
ina bring the 81 producing gout 1t comes Of
else might haVes, strong ales, and porter II is
Nj there Vas notbM the whisky drinking classes OF
II bad character of rlstison, in thirty years expe
ID "a. 19iiburQl InlrmarV mat with