DOLÆUS
Upon the CURE of the
GOUT, &c.
CHAP. I.
Before I explain this Method of Cure, I would have my Reader take Notice, that he is not to expect any thing perfectly new: I only propose to confirm, by fresh Experience, what hath been long enough known. The Method of Cure here advanced consists in the proper Use of Milk for a Year and upwards. Many will perhaps wonder at my Endeavours to revive a Method so long known and exploded by Physicians, as hurtful to gouty Constitutions, and shortening the Period of Life itself: But being fully satisfied from Reason, and certain Experience, that this most excellent Remedy is the Gift of Providence, for the Relief of Persons afflicted with this cruel Distemper, I could not help drawing up and communicating my Experience and Observations for the Relief of others.
Cornelius Celsus, the celebrated Roman Physician, speaking of the Pains and Evil that gouty People suffer, tells us of some Persons who entirely avoided this Distemper by a strict Adherence to the Use of Asses Milk, and of others that by abstaining a whole Year from the Use of Wine and Women, were never afterwards troubled with it.
Among the Moderns, John George Grezzell hath wrote a very learned Treatise upon the Cure of the Gout by Milk, wherein many curious and useful Observations are delivered; that excellent Physician Dr. James Sacks hath inserted, in the German Ephemeris, a Method for the Use of Milk, communicated to him by a noble Baron, wherein many useful and elegant Observations, founded upon Experiment, are contained. The late learned Waldsmid hath published a learned Dissertation upon the Relief of gouty Persons by Milk, wherein he agrees with the Authors now mentioned as to the Cure. I have lately received a Letter from a French Gentleman my Friend, who having been for many Years afflicted in a most terrible Manner with the Gout, hath been now by the Use of Milk, free for some Years. From these Examples I had Occasion to admire the wonderful Effects of this Diet, and therefore advised it to many gouty Persons here at Cassell, who have all recovered a perfect State of Health, by a strict Adherence to the Regimen Necessary in the Use of this Remedy: Even some whose Limbs were before perfectly crippled, are now able to walk and exercise. Colonel Nicholas Dumont hath experienced the Efficacy of this Method here at Cassell, for his Limbs were so entirely contracted that he was forced to use Crutches, but having confined himself strictly to the Use of this Diet for an Year and an half, he walks very well without a Cane, and hath performed several Journies. I have been free from the Gout my self upwards of an Year, notwithstanding I had three or four Fits every Year for Sixteen foregoing. Colonel Haste hath been restored by the same Means, though he hath had some mild Returns at several Times.
I shall in the first Place communicate the Letter I just now mentioned; next I shall lay down the Rules Necessary to be observed in the Use of this Milk-Diet; I shall then demonstrate from undeniable Principles, that this Method is the most convenient to asswage and cure the Gout, and that no bad Consequences can attend the Constitution, if it be taken with the proper Regulations. The Letter is as Follows.