New-York tribune., 1906-06-17
THE GOUT.

a J. a. Barre Vt: a What is the deriva-
tion Of the word gout? % Was the gout
garded a disease of the rich? (4) How does It
originate? 90 Is it not due to excessive meat
eating and indulgence in alcoholic drinks? 90
How can It be prevented and cured?
% Gout is so called from the French 'goutte"
drop, because it was believed TO be produced.
drop by drop. on the diseased part (2) With
out going so far the monk of the Middle
Ages, who. with a great array of learning. tried
TO prove that Adam had fallen victim to gout.
ii can be shown that in ancient times mankind
had 10 suffer from this painful a1f1iction. Hip
pocrates $50 B. CO in his writings gives a good
description Of it, and indications Of treatment,
and in the Bible we read of Christ and Peter
healing those that had the palsy" 30 Already
Galen CA D 13O) attributed gout TO luxurious
habits, and Seneca. vino lived in the same epoch,
commented on the fact that in Rome the women.
who were formerly free from gout, according to
Hippocrates had. through luxury and licenuous-
ness. in which they fully equalled the men,
drawn down upon themselves the same diseases
that men were liable TO, and among these the
gout Especially in Eug>Gnd the gout at all
times regarded as a disease Of the rich and high
living This general belief concerning the origin
of the gout is well illustrated in Hogarth's IA
NOUS painting, representing the well fed rich
man seated in his chair Trithing with pain, and
by Falstaff, in whose big toe the podagra is
playing havoc. a. Gout is Que primarily to
an excess Of urates in the fluids Of the body.
and secondarily to their deposition IN the tissues
bv precipitation caused by diminished aIkiinity
of the blood. Garrod in 1913 demonstrated that
in the blood OF equity patients urate of soda ex-
lists in abnormally large quantities. But why
these precipitations should form just IN the big
toe and what leads to their sudden production IS
a problem that is still waiting for satisfactory
solution. Still Garrod's discovery affords US at
least a test Of recognizing the true gout and
distinguishing il from similar diseases True
gout, accordingly, only those sWellngs OF the
Joints be called in which urate or soda IS TO
be found-and this eliminates, among others,
great number Of supposed gouty maimings such
as often appear IN old age in the finger joints.
Also when we read in the Bible of those mirac-
ulous healings or hear even to-day of that at
Iourdes crippled and palsied regalned the use
Of their limbs, we may be pretty sure that gout
IN our sense is not involved in those cases. but
rather nervous troubles. t5) The fact that a
,2orbid bolism Of the urates is at the bottom
~ cont fustifes the prevailing assumption that
oyerfndulgence in animal food was a potent
factor in the causatiOn of the disease. For we
know that muscular meat contains THIS chenllcaI
substance in great quantity; also that, While
Tngland the beef eating country par excellence,
furnishes the greatest number OF gouty, the
reonIe of Southern italy. who live on vegetables
and rnaccar roni, are spared by the disease
Strange to say. spirit drinkers are not as a RUE
,yo,,+,- Thus II has been established that IN
Munich Germany. where everybody, the young
and the old. consumes large quantities or tne
heavy Bavarian beer the gout pays TelatlNtly
;,eIgni6cant part in the diseases Of the popula-
tion one Of the most important predisposing
1lses of gout seems 10 be heredity. 20 AS the
real cause Of gout has by no means been clearly
esta bished it is difficult 10 indicate preVehlive
or cIIre Patience and cotton" the treatment
,eed bv our forefathers, are even to-day the
chief remedies that can be recommended TO over
coroe an attack To this is added the consumT-
ton Of large quantities oi aIkahhe @ Wa!eI SUI,
as Zicbv. and as TO the rest. we must consult
,tveician who after a careful diagnosis, may
G;eco1,er the origin Of the trouble and prescribe
an appropriate diet and treatment