218 MARRIAGE AND DISEASE. 



It is a condition brought about by continued over- 

 feeding and prolonged indolence, and is consequently 

 to a large extent a disease of the wealthy, who can 

 eat as much as they please and work as little. In 

 times past it was almost wholly confined to the rich, 

 but in more recent times some among our working- 

 classes, who have special opportunities for feeding, 

 and whose physical labour is not great in proportion, 

 have cultivated the disease. At present gout is not 

 at all uncommon amongst butchers, bakers, draymen, 

 brewers, innkeepers, coachmen, butlers, publicans, 

 porters, and others who eat and drink largely, and 

 who partake sparingly of physical labour. 



As might be expected, temperament has much 

 to do with the cultivation of this disease among a 

 people. As a rule, the large eaters are the less active. 

 They are capable of exerting great power when put 

 to it, but they rarely have any of that restless 

 activity which keeps the thin man thin. They do 

 not care much for the more volatile preparations of 

 alcohol, as whisky, which would induce an uncom- 

 fortable restlessness, but prefer beer or other sooth- 

 ing draught. They are generally largely built and 

 have heavy limbs ; even early in life they become 

 fat, the skin being oily and the pores in it large. 

 They have great powers of digestion, and to them 

 the pleasures of the table are of the first importance. 

 This type the sanguine is the class most given to 

 the cultivation of gout. It is, perhaps, best seen 

 in the inhabitants of the Midland and Southern 



