266 MEDICAL OBSERVATIONS. 



nations are less subject to this malady than others. Pliny 

 speaks of it as of more frequent occurrence in Italy in his 

 time than it was in former ages ;* and he believed it to be 

 of foreign origin, from the circumstance of there being no 

 Latin name for it. The disease is very rare in China, and 

 is said to be little known in some parts of Germany. In 

 Arabia it is seldom met with ; but this does not appear to be 

 the case in Persia, where, among those who do not adhere 

 strictly to the rules of temperance prescribed in the Koran, 

 it is by no means uncommon. We have never known more 

 than one Hindoo who suffered from the gout. The Moham- 

 medans are not so fortunate in this respect ; nor can they 

 expect to be so, for they are often indolent, live freely, and 

 do not abstain from many of the good things of this world 

 which it is in their power to enjoy. From the data before 

 us, therefore, we may conclude that the climate of our 

 Asiatic territories does not encourage this disorder. Eu- 

 ropeans subject to it have for the most part long intervals 

 between the fits ; and when these do come on, they are gene- 

 rally slight. What may be the positive cause of this mild- 

 ness or infrequency of the disease in a hot climate it is 

 difficult to determine ; but as India proves advantageous to 

 the dyspeptic, it may be equally so to the gouty, seeing that 

 those are constantly the greatest martyrs to it who suffer 

 most from indigestion. If digestion be well performed, a 

 wholesome chyle is ultimately produced. But if the chyme, 

 from which the chyle is in the first instance separated, has 

 been rendered corrupt by repletion or heterogeneous mix- 

 tures in the stomach, heartburn ensues, which is character- 

 ized by an acid of a peculiar nature, — and this we conceive 

 to be the prime agent in bringing on both gout and gravel. 

 Dr. Wollaston has demonstrated, that the concretions formed 

 in the joints of gouty persons are composed of an animal 

 acid, termed the 2iric or lithic acid, together with soda. 

 Such concretions are no doubt hastened by frequent indiges- 

 tions ; and certainly the disposition to their formation ia 

 increased with advancing years and an over-indulgence in 

 fermented liquors. Hereditary ills will assail us in spite of 

 our greatest care : those, however, who have such calamities 

 in prospect ought not to despair, but to hold in remembrance, 



* Kst. Nat. hb. x\y\. cap. 10- 



