Evening star., 1900-10-27
OLD-TIME GOUT REMEDIES
A QUART OF BUTTERMILK EVERY
DAY Is ONE CURE.
ROsin PIasters. Bitters and May Apple
Ointment Do Wonders,
Also.
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star
'Gout is the bare of existence, a very
tricksy ariel among diseases" the Old doct"r
said in his slurring southern voice. You
never know just where il VIII take you-
il has as many WAYS of showing itself
you have fingers and toes-yes, and legs,
arms and muscles generally. l honestly be-
lieve 1t can set up a separate and inii-
vidual ache in every fiber of the human
frame But even that is nOt the worst of
it. 1t is SO undergraduate. Pathological
idosyncracy counts for so much in it, the
cure for mans gout is the poison of
another's
so of late ! am returning to first prin
ciples, and treat many of my gouty pa
tients with household remedies Down
south, where | grew up, people swear by
the buttermilk cure. With good reason.
tco-actic acid, the sour Of buttermlk, at
tacks and dissolves every sort of earthly de-
pcsit in the blood vessels Thus it keeps
the veins and arteries 50 supple and free
running there can be no clogging up, hence
no deposit of irritating calcareous matter
around the joints. nor of poisonous waste
in the muscles. 1t is the stiffening and mar
rowing of the blood vessels which bring
senile decay. Buttermilk, l firmly believe,
prstpones the period of it ten to twenty
years.
'"The gouty diathesis is unquestionably
hereditary, but the exciting cause of actual
gout is sluggish eXcretion Buttermilk gen
tly stimulates all the excretories-liver, skin
and kidneys. Ii does even more in toning
the stomach, and furnishing il the material
from which to make rich, red, healthy
blood. AS nutrient, buttermilk is wholly
unlike sweet milk. Its food value may be
less by chemical tests, but in every other
way it is very much more. If you have
gout or a gouty tendency drink a quart of
buttermilk every twenty-four hours. eat no
meat. not sweets, let alone pastries, spiced
things and wine, but allow yourself all the
eggs, game, fresh fruit and vegetables,
pccially salads, you can consume and un-
less You are a very ill-conditioned person
you will shortly be ar-azed at your own i'm
provcment. l have seen almost hopeless
cripplcs cured by six months of ash-cake
and buttermilk three times a day. the ash
cake saturated with good grass butter and
supplemented with roasted eggs, potatoes
and nuts.
Keep to Ash-Cake.
"Since ash-cake is beyond the reach of
city people, they must make out as best they
may with graham crackers, shredded wheat
and so on. Hot soda biscuit occasionally do
no hurt, provided they are light and well
baked, but rolls flour mullins, bread of
every sort. indeed anything belonging to
the tribe of ferments, is best let alone. AS
to the buttermilk, the quart is the mini
mum-if you have appetite and capacity
for three quarts, SO much the better. In
1dcl, my ADVICE TO anybody VINO mas q
creaky joint, or swelled and aching one
is drink all the buttermilk you can relish.
whenever and wherever you can. 1t must
be good buttermilk-fresh churned and
wholesome, from a dependable dairy. Milk
that has been kept too long before churn-
ing, or afterward, will certainly not do
good, and may do harm.
"Buttermilk was not by any means the
only remedy my home people used In fact,
they had gout cures nearly as various as
the manifestations of gout itself. Some
few of them were heroic-the turpentine
bandage for example, Soft old flannel wet
with spirits of turpentine was bound on the
affected part and ironed with a hot fiat
iron long as the patient could stand it.
1t took grit to stand 1t many mlnutes-the
turpentine vaporized and went in, making
a deep painful burn, which generally drove
away the gout. The milder rosn plaster
was much affected by the black people.
Rosin either crude or commercial. was
melted, mixed with grease and spread upon
thin, soft leather, often the red morocco
top of an old bootleg, then clapped in place
sizzling hot, and left to wear on since
it stuck worse than a porous plaster the
wearing off was tedious. Rosin piastefs
were commonly sacred to lame backs and
shoulders. A big one was treasure often
kept as sort of heirloom-it could always
be renewed by spreading on fresh rosin.
Inch-Thick Clay Poultices.
"Clay poultices ran them hard in popular
favor. Ocherous red clay, or dirt burned in
the chimney back, was mixed 10 very sun
mud with apple vinegar, spread an inch
thick all around the gouty spot, and left
there twenty-four hours. Gouty feet were
incased in it until they looked like the
hands of a giant prize fighter ready for the
ring. For equity ankles the mud was put
into a sock which was then drawn on. ana
worn sometimes week Gouty finger joints
hal the lead bandage, made by hammering
a bullet thin and fiat then bending 1t In
place with the ends tapping. AS the swell
ing went down the ends were Tapped fur
ther, thus keeping up the pressure, which
was held to cure.
NAV apple ointment was sovereign for
lame backs sore shoulders and stiff necks
The fleshy roots were stewed soft then
mashed up in lard, and stewed half day
longer. 1t was a powerful remedy, and
needed to be used with discretion or 1t
would take off the skin, and make an ugly
sore. Where there was racking or shooting
pain, hop-poultices, and hop foot baths
came into play, and certainly did good
The hop poultice was thin bag half filled