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.

    595/612 (page 579)
    cure. The late changes induced by inveterate gout are most often incurable; but in its slighter degrees, and before the advent of senihty, gout is sometimes cured, and it is always capable of alleviation. The first requisite is to put a stop to the faulty habits, which by long con- tinuance have warped the normal play of functions. Freed from this pressure, the vis medicatrix natures re- asserts itself, and an upward tendency is estabhshed. But hygiene can do more than merely secure the condi- tions which least hamper Nature. Her constructive energies must be aided by the slow, but steady, influence of hygienic habits. Their action becomes cumulative if kept up. Health must be made a constant study, and those habits should, if possible, be acquired which are conducive to vitality. Reform cannot be introduced without some effort; but it becomes less laborious by practice, and brings with it increasing capacity for en- joyment and chances of longevity. If life is harder, faster, keener than it was, yet for toil or for pleasure it is perhaps felt better worth living than ever before, and will amply repay the cost. Strict observance of the rules of hygiene is made easy if they should include sufficient variety. Monotony is depressing. The stimulating virtue of change is perhaps nowhere more apparent than in connection with gout. Our most potent hygienic stimulants, change of air and of scenery, are always combined with a break in the routine of life; and no other measure can in this respect compare with foreign travel. The same prin- ciple might, however, be applied in many other ways. The renovating influence of change should never be lost sight of, and should be provided as far as possible in the regulation of every-day life. This applies to the majority of cases, but in respect of