A treatise on gout / Sir Dyce Duckworth.

  • Duckworth, Dyce, Sir, 1840-1928.
Date:
[1889]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on gout / Sir Dyce Duckworth. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    it as the effect, but not the cause, of the disease.1 Senator, referring to the views of the solidists as represented by Cullen, remarks that they have never been able to hold their ground against the various humoralistic theories. Great impetus was given to the humoral doctrine by the dis- covery of the peccant matter, which had so long been suspected. For more than half a century there was a growing suspicion that lithic (uric) acid was the malign agent in inducing gout; and although Mr. Murray Forbes in 1793,4 Wollaston,5 Parkinson,6 Pearson,7 and Sir Henry Holland8 in this country, and Andral,9 Payer,10 Cruveilhier,11 and Petit in France, all regarded gout as intimately connected with the presence of uric acid, it was not till Garrod12 unequivocally demonstrated the fact in 1848, that this discovery made plain one portion at least of the pathology of this affection, and thereby constituted one of the most brilliant advances made in modern medicine. Thus far the ground is clear, and it is necessary at this point to review the various theories which have been propounded to explain the relations between uric acid and manifestations of gouty disease. Before proceeding to enumerate the several opinions held respecting this relationship, it is fitting to record that about ten years before Garrod's demonstration that uric acid was the peccant matter of gout, Sir Henry Holland surmised that there was a presumable relation between lithic acid and its compounds and the matter of gout; that the accumulation of this matter of the disease may be presumed to be in the blood, and its retro- cession or change of place, when occurring, to be effected through 1 His theory was opposed by Dr. Tode in an inaugural thesis at Copenhagen in 1784, and by Dr. Luther in another at Halle in 1786. Sir Charles Scudamore and Garrod also criticized Cullen's definition and theory of the disease in their Treatises on Gout, 1819 and 1859. Parkinson alludes to Cullen's theory, and hesitated to advance his adherence to the old humoral theory in consequence. Vide Preface to his Observations on Nature and Cure of Gout. London, 1805. 2 Ziemssen's Cyclopaedia, art. Gout, Eng. trans]., p. 101. 3 Scheele discovered lithic acid in urinary calculi and urine in 1775- Sydenham originated this term (materia peccans ) in his famous and classical Treatise, 1685. 4 A Treatise upon Gravel and upon Gout, &c. 5 On Gout and Urinary Concretions. Philosoph. Trans., ii. 386, 1797- 6 Op. cit. 7 Phil. Trans., 1798. 8 Medical Notes and Reflections, p. 252, 1839. 9 Precis d'Anatomic pathologique, 1829, vol. i. p. 553, and vol. ii. p. 387. 10 Traite des Maladies''des Reins, 1839, vol. i. p. 243. 11 Atlas d'Anatomie pathologique, 4e livraison, planche iii. 12 Med.-Chir. Transactions, 1848.