GOUT. 275

do not cure the disease, but remove it from a safer to a more dan-gerous part of the body, where it often proves fatal. A fit of thegout is to be considered as Nature's method of removing- somethingthat might prove destructive to the body, and all that we can dowith safety, is to promote her intentions, and to assist her in ex-pelling the enemy in her own way. Evacuations by bleeding,stool, &c. are likewise to be used with caution ; they do not re-move the cause of the disease, and sometimes by weakening thepatient prolong the fit ; but where the constitution is able to bearit, it will be of use to keep the body gently open by diet, or verymild laxative medicines.*

The wine of Colchicum, or meadow saffron, given in the quanti-ty of a fluid drachm, twice a-day, in any convenient vehicle, has beenfound a valuable remedy, both in gout and rheumatism ; but torender this medicine more certain and efficacious, the bowelsshould be particularly attended to ; and all food of a flatulent na-ture should be avoided.

Many things will indeed shorten a fit of the gout, and some willdrive it off altogether ; but few have yet been found which will dothis with safety to the patient. In pain we eagerly grasp at anything that promises immediate ease, and even hazard life itself fora temporary relief. This is the true reason why so many infalli-ble remedies have been proposed for the gout, and why such num-bers have lost their lives by the use of them.

When the pain, however, is very great, and the patient is rot-less, thirty or forty drops of laudanum, more or less, according t<*the vioJence of the symptoms, may be taken at bed-time. Thiswill ease the pain, procure rest, promote perspiration, and forwardthe crisis of the disease.

After the fit is over, the patient ought to take a gentle dose ortwo of the bitter tincture of rhubarb, or some other warm stomachicpurge. He should also drink a weak infusion of stomachic bit-ters in small wine or ale, as the Peruvian bark, with cinnamon,Virginian snake-root, and orange-peel. The diet at this time shouldbe light, but nourishing, and gentle exercise ought to be taken onhorseback, or in a carriage.

Out of the fit, it is in the patient's power to do many things to-wards preventing a return of the disorder, or rendering the fit, if itshould return, less severe. This, however, is not to be attemptedby medicine. I have frequently known the gout kept off for sev-eral years by the Peruvian bark and other astringent medicines ;but in all the cases where I had occasion to see this tried, the per-sons died suddenly, and to all appearance for want of a regular fitof the gout. One would be apt, from hence, to conclude, that afit of the gout, to some constitutions, in the decline of life, is rath-er salutary than hurtful.

Though it may be dangerous to stop a fit of the gout by medi-cine, yet if the constitution can be so changed by diet and exer-cise, as to lessen or totally prevent its return, there certainly can

* Take Magnesia, 1 drachm.

Powder of Rhubarb, 8 grains.Compound Powder of Cinnamon,

5 grains.Make an aperient powder to be talwnoccasionally,