Views of the Humoralists
The Greek physicians, quite familiar as they were with the overt manifestations of gout, did not, as far as its nosology was concerned, commit themselves to any appellation that might imply their adherence to any theory as to its causation. They contented themselves with a mere topographical designation, terming the affection, podagra, chirargra, etc., according as foot or hand was the seat of the disorder, while for polyarticular types the generic term arthritis was invoked.
Nevertheless the old Greek physicians had their views as to its pathology. Thus the source of the peccant humours resided for them in the brain, which they had invested with all the functions of an absorbent and secreting gland. This hypothesis in time was displaced by the true humoral theory, according to which the bodily fluids, those found in the alimentary canal, the blood stream, and the glandular organs, were the primordial agents of disease. No need, albeit, for gibes on our part, for how true much of their conception of the genesis of disease even to-day. Indeed, what else than a fusion of the foregoing views? the modern theory of Sir Dyce Duckworth, who would ascribe gout to the combined influence of neural and humoral factors. And now to consider briefly the individual views of the fathers of medicine.