Gout and goutiness : and their treatment / by William Ewart.

  • William Ewart
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Gout and goutiness : and their treatment / by William Ewart. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    591/612 (page 575)
    vanity too often begins its destructive work; and vigilant attention should be bestowed upon the timely supply of well-made and hygienic boots or shoes, to meet the re- curring needs of the growing foot. As the gouty age approaches, increasing care should be given to these im- portant details. MENTAL WORK AND MORAL INFLUENCES. The efficacy of excessive mental application, of moral shock, and of mental depression, in exciting a fit of the o-out in those who are confirmed sufferers, is well authenticated. It may be doubted, however, whether a tendency to gout can be materially increased by mental labour in itself, though Sydenham's authority has given it a bad name : ' The same mischief follows the over-applica- tion of the mind to serious matters and deep study. Melancholy, so called, is pre-eminently the inseparable companion of gout. Hence those who are liable to it are so wont to tire and overwhelm the animal spirits by long and deep thought, that excessive exertion of this sort, even without the artificial aid of reading, makes the proper pre- servation of the economy of the body an impossibility; for which reason (as seems to me) gout rarely attacks fools. Those who choose may except the present writer.' ' A sharp distinction should be drawn between healthy mental activity and the excessive and exclusive strain which is too often thrown upon the mental powers. This, like every other exhausting influence, favours the onset of the paroxysm, and like any other cause interfering with the due exercise of the muscular functions, it must tend, if other circumstances should co-operate, to develop gout in those previously free from it.