2i6 MARRIAGE AND DISEASE. 



Mr. Jonathan Hutchinson has said : ft Had man- 

 kind continued to be vegetable feeders, and never 

 known the use of wine or beer, we should have had 

 no experience of gout." But with Mr. Hutchinson, 

 even when he adds the " sole cause " of the total 

 abstinence party to that of the vegetarians, I cannot 

 agree. I can see no reason why by gluttony and 

 indolence the system could not be overcharged with 

 nitrogenous matters from the vegetable world, and, 

 if this condition were maintained for a few genera- 

 tions, why we should not have gout as a consequence. 

 Animal food is more nitrogenous than most, and less 

 nitrogenous than some vegetable products, and I fail 

 to see why the nitrogenous constituents of a vegetable 

 diet should be less injurious than those of an animal 

 diet. So far as we know at present, if taken in equal 

 quantity and equally diluted, the result of animal and 

 vegetable products is much the same. Again, as to 

 wine and beer, both, by the way, vegetable products, 

 it is clear that it is not the alcohol, but rather the 

 sugary matters which are the gout-producers. Our 

 port wines, and Burgundies, and beer, and, most 

 potent of all, our stout, are recognised as our great 

 fluid gout-producers, while whisky, which is a much 

 more concentrated solution of alcohol than any of 

 them, has little if any effect in the evolution of this 

 disease. 



The fact of the matter is, the cause of gout is 

 indolence coupled with gluttony. Rich foods are 

 freely partaken of, and sufficient exercise to burn that 



