On gout ; its history, its causes, and its cure. / By William Gairdner.

  • Gairdner, William, 1793-1867.
Date:
MDCCCLIV [1854]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On gout ; its history, its causes, and its cure. / By William Gairdner. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    years of age, of a very gouty family, who has suffered under repeated attacks of the regular disease, and is crippled in nearly all the articula- tions of the fingers by tophaceous deposits. Spare in form and short in stature, she yet imbibes more nourishment in the course of the day than would satisfy a strong man, though she never eats a good and wholesome meal. Day and night seem consumed in a pitiful study of certain little messes and refections. She is nearly as unreasonable as to medicine, adhering to various family traditions, and little crotchets of her own, on which she places a bigoted reliance. Several sharp attacks of pain, translated to the stomach, have lately taught her to place more confidence in the know- ledge of others. I have considerable hope that the alarm she has felt, and her attachment to life, miserable as hers is, may be the source of much improved health. But my present object is to describe one of the attacks under which I have attended her. It occurred in the night, after repeated distressing evacuations of the bowels, in consecpience of a powerful dose of senna and salts. When I reached her residence, I found her quite speechless with suffering. She pointed to the pit of the stomach as its seat. The vomiting, which had been severe, had ceased; her countenance had a cadaverous hue and expression ; the pulsa-