GOUT GRAVEL. 



267 



that as these maladies must have had a commencement m 

 the family, occasioned most likely by imprudence, so they 

 may have a tennination— the reward of persevering modera- 

 tion. A residence in India may also be considered favour- 

 able to the gouty on account of the free perspiration there 

 experienced, which, there is ground to believe, carries off 

 much peccant acid matter. 



We have had occasion to attend both Hindoos and Mus- 

 . sulmans suftering from gravel or stone, but cannot say that 

 these are maladies of common occurrence in Hindostan. As 

 for confirmed stone in a European habit, the writer never 

 saw a case of it. But the affinity between gout and gravel 

 being unquestionable, so it often happens that nephritic 

 calculi are a sequel to gout, when it has assumed a chronic 

 form ; and we find, accordingly, that the children of gouty 

 parents are often hereditarily disposed to both disorders,— 

 some having a gouty, and others a nephritic, affection. The 

 use of hard" water has been supposed by Dr. Lister to be a 

 powerful cause of gravel ; other physicians, again, ascribe 

 more mischief to acid food. Were the latter a serious source 

 of the affection, we should see the Indians suffer more from 

 it than thev do, for they use limes, tamarinds, &c. very 

 liberally. While, however, we cannot beheve that the nat- 

 ural acid found in fruits or potherbs induces the complaint 

 in question, we would ascribe that effect to the morbid acid 

 produced in the first passages by indigestion. But perhaps 

 no stronger argument can be adduced to prove that a hot 

 climate fs beneficial in gravelish complaints, than what we 

 find recommended by Dr. John Mason Good,* who says, that 

 whatever tends to promote a determination to the skin will 

 be serviceable in such aliments, " for the skin itself becomes 

 in this case an outlet for a discharge of a redundancy of 



acid."t 



It has occasionally become a subject of discussion whe- 

 ther the climate of India is better suited to those of dark or 

 fair complexions : but this does not appear to be a matter 

 of great importance, as the tropics, with proper care, will be 



i •• Study of Medicine, vol. v. p. 523, 524. 



t Several of the delicious fruits of India contain little or no acidity ; 

 such as the custard apple (annona squamosa), plantain (musaparadisia- 

 ca). bullock's heart (annona reticulata), &c., and which, consequently, 

 may be used by those wto have the most delicate digestioa. 



