Southern Coast of England, 9t 



ing its consequences, consists in combining, as far as possible, the 

 effects of an equable and elevated temperature during the winter 

 months, with those means which are best adapted to impart 

 strength ; thus enabling the constitution to contend against the in- 

 fluence of the disorder. The advantages of pursuing such indica- 

 tions are not only exhibited by daily experience, and their adoption 

 strictly enjoined by all the best writers on the subject, as Dr. Bad- 

 ham, Dr. Beddoes and others, but they have, I trust, been rendered 

 sufficiently obvious in the preceding pages, to require very little in 

 addition to what has been already observed. 



** Although material benefit, in these cases, may be constantly 

 derived from a careful attention to the degree of heat employed 

 within doors, yet, as Dr. Buxton has very justly remarked, * where 

 a natural elevation of temperature can, without difficulty, be ob- 

 tained, it is infinitely preferable to an artificial one,' as the invalid, 

 in the former case, can adopt additional means of recruiting his 

 health and strength, and chiefly, by exercise, in a pure and moving 

 atmosphere ; which very material advantage he is necessarily pre- 

 cluded from enjoying, during a confinement to his room. 



*' Although we cannot reasonably expect the perfect union of the 

 most favourable of all natural means, in our own kingdom ; yet, as 

 there are situations which approach this combination so much more 

 nearly than others, their influence may always be sought by patients 

 suffering under these complaints, with the greatest relief and benefit. 



*' This remark of course applies, with almost equal force, to all 

 the more sheltered situations along our southern shore, where, from 

 causes already enumerated, the thermometer is necessarily much 

 less liable to variation than in any other part of England ; and 

 where, during the more severe seasons, opportunities so frequently 

 present themselves of taking exercise under the protection of the 

 cliffs, and within the reflected influence of the sun's beams." 



The utility of exercise in gout is thus enjoined by our 

 author. 



*' So various are the modes by which this important antidote 

 exerts it beneficial influence, that it would be tedious to enumerate 

 them ; I shall, however, briefly notice a few. By the stimulus it 

 affords to the circulation, it increases the energies of the exhalents 

 on the surface of the body, and, consequently, the volume of insen- 

 sible perspiration ; and, without expense of animal strength, if pro- 

 perly employed; it thus diminishes the mass of the circulating 

 fluids. 



" By the sympathy existing between these exhalents and the sto- 

 mach, an influence no less beneficial is communicated to this organ, 

 tending to impart a healthful action to its function. The salutary 

 operation of exercise on the alimentary canal also, in increasing and 

 preserving its peristaltic motion, with the effects on the viscera 

 derived from the action of the abdominal and other muscles, as 

 before shown, is of the highest utility. 



JULY—SEPT. 1828. H 



