TREATMENT AND CASES.
XXXIV.—Gout.
Great difference of opinion exists as to the cause of gout. Ancient physicians called it the daughter of Bacchus and Venus; and truly persons, or their progeny, devoted to these two divinities, offer the greatest number of examples.
To cure this complaint, the ingenuity of thousands of scientific men has been taxed, and the whole pharmacopœia applied to in vain. Perspiration is mostly resorted to; but as this is effected by warm baths, vapour baths, or drugs, the consequences are so debilitating that few constitutions can bear them. The result of all medical treatment in this disease is, the degradation of robust constitutions, and the promotion of diseases worse than the gout itself.
Volumes might be written on the various remedial measures which have been resorted to in this complaint, and of which time has shewn the fallacy. We now ask the invalid, if he ever knew the gout radically cured by any pharmaceutical means? Were Hydropathists asked whether they ever knew cases of gout cured by water, they would unhesitatingly answer in the affirmative. Incipient gout is always curable. The same may be said of chronic gout, except in isolated cases: then Hydropathy invariably gives relief; and by regulating the functions of the body, improves the general health.
The following treatment and cases will shew how the manipulation is varied, to combat this disease in its manifold forms:—
Gout cannot be cured by local applications; the whole system must be purified by a general treatment, or no permanent cure can be effected.
For occasional attacks of gout in the extremities, the constitution being otherwise robust:—