Volume 1

A system of medicine / edited by J. Russell Reynolds.

Date:
1866-1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A system of medicine / edited by J. Russell Reynolds. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    859/976 (page 839)
    wines and spirits as follows:—sherry, port, madeira, champagne, burgundy, hock, and moselle. The least acid of all alcoholic spirits are geneva and whisky, then rum and brandy, afterwards ale, porter, and stout; all wines are found to be more acid than malt liquors. Measured by the amount of contained saccharine matter, com- mencing with the least sweet, spirits, wines, and malt liquors may be thus arranged: geneva, rum, whisky, claret, burgundy, Rhine wines, and moselle have no sugar; then brandy, sherry, madeira, champagne, port wine, cider, porter, stout, malmsey, ale, tokay, samos, paxarete, and Cyprus. The knowledge of the composition of the different lands of alcoholic fluids has not thrown much light upon their varying powers of in- ducing Gout, and the following summary includes nearly all that can be clearly made out on the subject* 1. Diluted alcohol, in the form of distilled spirits, has little power in causing Gout, at least in those who .are not predisposed to it. 2. Alcohol, when in combination with other substances, as in wines and malt liquors, becomes a potent cause of Gout, and the greater the amount of contained spirits in such beverages, the more powerful their influence in producing the disease. 3. Neither the acid, sugar, nor any known principle contained in these liquors, can as yet be proved to impart to the alcohol its pre- disposing influence; for wines the least acid, and liquors the least sweet, are found among the most baneful. 4. Alcoholic fluids which have little tendency to cause dyspepsia, and those which more especially act as diuretics, can, as far as Gout is concerned, be taken with greater impunity than beverages of an opposite character. Influence of the Solid Food in causing Gout.—It is a matter of much difficulty to assign the share that different articles of solid food have in the production of Gout, and likewise to separate the effect of in- digestion caused by any article of diet from the secondary influence of the same food after its absorption into the system. Cullen re- marked that Gout seldom attacked persons who lived much on vegetable diet, but he added, or persons who were employed in constant bodily labour; and doubtless the disease is rare amongst those who live in the country, working hard, and eating abstemiously. Experience, moreover, has pretty well established this fact—namely, that an excess of food, more especially animal food, favours the pro- duction of Gout, and it probably does so by causing an increased formation of. nitrogenised compounds, more especially uric acid. Vegetable substances have comparatively little direct influence, un- less they cause dyspepsia from their mechanical structure, or other peculiarities. As far as composition is concerned, it is probable that articles of food containing a considerable amount of saline principles as for instance the salts of potash, are useful in keeping up the activity of the secreting organs, especially the function of the kidneys, and * Nature and Treatment of Gout. Second Edition.