Volume 2

Indigestion, biliousness, and gout in its protean aspects / by J. Milner Fothergill.

Date:
1881-1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Indigestion, biliousness, and gout in its protean aspects / by J. Milner Fothergill. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    of their regimen a little, and await tlie result. It will soon bring conviction to the most sceptical. Uric acid, lithic acid, or gout poison, is one of the out- comes of the albuminoid elements of our food; it is a body containing nitrogen. It is found m smaU quantity as a normal product of the changes, or metaboHsm which albu- men undergoes iu the body. Its production in excess leads to gout. This may be due to the consumption of albuminoid food far in excess of the tissue-needs; or it may be due to some impairment of functional activity of the Hver in consequence of which uric acid is formed in ab- normal amount. The genesis of gout hes in such causal states. When gout manifests itseK in an individual free from aU here- ditary taint then, usually, it is the result of indulgence on the part of the individual himself. He may fau-ly credit himself with it, and hold the consolation of the sweet consciousness of guilt. When it is an hereditary malady its possessor may be personally as innocent of any part in its production, as the heir to a heavHy-mortgaged estate is as to his encunibered patrimony. In each case the owner steps into his inheritance; such as it is! He may feel pained about the condition of the family estate; he may feel sorrowful that his hver is an incapable one. But regret is unavailing in either case. There is only one way of remedying the matter. When his property is encumbered he must Hve economically, and practice self-denying thrift untU the estate is once more clear ; when he finds his Hver an inefficient organ unequal to dealing with any great amount of albuminoids, he must again adjust himself to