LAND AND WATER 
June 26, 1915 
h 
HOW URIC ACID 
WORKS. 
GOUTY DEVELOPMENT. 
C~^ OUT is latent in every human being by means of the 
' fact that uric acid, its primal cause, occurs naturally 
-_■ in every system. Thus it is that gouty suffering is 
■ the most prevalent of all maladies in this country ; 
— ^ and why anyone escapes gout at all is because 
Nature, by means of the liver and kidneys, destroys and eliminates 
the noxious poison as soon as it is produced. 
A very slight cause, however, exposure to cold or damp, a 
chill, an accidental blow or knock, even worry, mental distress, 
or a sudden shock, may result in the retention of the uric acid 
in the body to the detriment of the whole economy. 
It impedes the circulation and contaminates the blood. The 
results are seen in attacks of indigestion, with the distressing 
attendant symptoms of flatulence, acidity, heartburn, headache, 
and constipation. Scattered about here and there just under the 
skin may be seen little hard lumps, which are simply collections 
of solidified uric acid. 
Accompanying this early stage of gouty development a 
burning sensation in the skin with irritation is experienced, 
twinges of pain in the joints frequently occur, and there is a 
feeling of stiffness, pain, and tenderness in both joints and 
muscles. 
One of the most frequently occurring forms of gout is gouty 
eczema, the direct result of the burrowing of uric acid into the 
skin. There can be no more irritating or distressing ailment 
than gouty eczema, and, strangely enough, it often attacks 
persons apparently healthy and vigorous. 
Another, and perhaps the most familiar of all forms of 
gouty suffering, is that known as chronic or rheumatic gout, or 
rheumatoid arthritis, when uric acid insinuates itself between 
the articulations, buries itself in the crevices, and invests the 
cartilages and ligaments of the joints, setting up pain, enlarge- 
ment, inflammation, and stiffness. Uric acid is the one common 
cause of all other forms of gout, whether they appear in gouty 
rheumatism or lumbago, sciatica or neuritis, kidney stone or 
gravel. 
RATIONAL TREATMENT OF GOUT. 
To overcome and expel uric acid naturally requires the 
assistance of an agent even stronger than the poison itself. 
Scientific research into the whole subject of uric acid solvents 
and eliminants, conducted for many years by an old-established 
firm of manufacturing chemists of the highest repute, resulted 
in the perfecting of Bishop's Varalettes, a remedy acknowledged 
by the medical profession to be the most generally powerful 
solvents and eliminants of uric acid known. Bishop's Varalettes 
are a reliable and successful remedy for gouty suffering, because 
their action is at once rational and scientific. When administered 
they are rapidly absorbed by the blood, and so are enabled to 
follow uric acid into its remotest hiding places. The poisonous 
acid is neutralized by the chemical action of Bishop's Varalettes, 
the cement-like masses are softened and broken down, finally 
dissolved, and swept right out of the body. With this removal 
the nervous depression, the irritation, the low condition, and 
the pain, stiffness, and inflammation pass away, and in their 
place come a sense of the most gratefiil relief, and a raising of 
the whole tone of the system. 
Bishop's Varalettes are perfectly safe. No harmful in- 
gredient enters into their composition. They do not interfere 
with the normal action of any organ of the body. Thev are a 
preventive as well as a remedy, and prolonged use does not 
lessen their effect or produce any ill results. 
CHOICE OF DIET. 
Discrimination is practically all that is required in this 
respect. No self-denial of any sort is necessary, for the number 
and variety of foods that the gouty may eat with impunity are 
sufficiently extensive to satisfy the most fastidious palate or the 
most exacting appetite. Confirmation of this welcome fact wiU 
be found in a booklet recently issued, which deals with the subject 
of gouty foods in an interesting and authoritative manner. 
Classified lists of foods are set forth, so that it may be seen at a 
glance what to eat and what to avoid. A section of this booklet 
is devoted to the discussion of uric acid disorders, their nature 
and treatment, and contains a mass of useful information of the 
greatest value to all who suffer from or are threatened by uric 
acid. A copy of the booklet will be sent post free by the sole 
makers of Bishop's Varalettes, Alfred Bishop, Ltd., Manu- 
facturing Chemists (Est. 1857), 4^ Spelman Street, London, N.E. 
Please ask for Booklet N. 
Bishop's Varalettes are sold in vials at is., 2s., and 5s. 
(25 days' treatment), or may be had direct from the sole makers, 
as above. 
BOOKS OF THE WEEK 
A LITERARY REVIEW 
" The Audacious War." By Clarence W. Barron. 
(Constable.) 4s. 6d. net. 
"The World in Crucible." By Sir Gilbert 
Parker, M.P. (Murray.) 6s. net. 
In Sir Gilbert Parker's book we see the lure of modern 
history attracting an author away from his more usual 
pursuit of fiction. Sir Gilbert has a command of popular 
rhetoric which enables him to say with considerable vehemence 
what we have all been saying about Germany. There is not 
very much that is new. He rightly emphasises the importance 
of Asia and the Near East in causing the war. From time to 
time his quotations are apt, as when he reminds us that 
Froissart " laments that it was impossible to teach the German 
knights the principles of true knightliness ; " and when he 
quotes Sir Ian Hamilton on the Russo-Japanese War : " The 
Muscovites have not lifted so much as an egg even during the 
demoralisation of a defeat." 
Mr. Barron's book is more interesting, and more original. 
He is not attempting to cover the whole ground, but is present- 
ing a few aspects of the war as they occurred to him, an 
American, writing from Europe. He has been in close touch 
with diplomatic and government circles, and he is an expert 
on finance. He is entirely sympathetic with the British and 
the French, and states our case for the American pubUc as 
vigorously as it could possibly be stated. He argues that 
the immediate causes of the war are " connected with com- 
mercial treaties, protective tariffs, and financial progress." 
" Kultur " means " German progress," commercially and 
financially, and it is this which German armies and armaments 
exist, to support. During the Russo-Japanese War Germany 
thrust commercial treaties upon Russia wholly unfavourable 
to the latter. In 1914 these treaties had nearly expired. 
Mr. Barron asserts that it was the policy and intention of 
Germany to defeat the European Powers in succession with a 
view to dictating tariff terms to the rest of the world, including 
America. He urges upon his own country, " the home of 
protective tariffs," that " tariffs should be neighbourly." 
We could wish that he had developed the financial side of 
his argument — with the information at his disposal he might 
advantageously have filled a volume. The book is well worth 
reading. Incidentally we light upon certain facts which 
British newspapers are not as a rule permitted to publish. 
The English Essay and Essayists. By Hugh 
Walker, M.A., LL.D. (Dent.) 5s. net. 
Professor Walker is perhaps a little too much inclined to 
think that Lamb is the only kind of essaAdst who is really an 
essajdst, and the examples which he considers in this volume 
axe practically subjected to the one test : To what extent do 
they conform to the model of Lamb ? But literature is large, 
and he is compelled also, in order to bring so many other 
writers within his scope, to give place to essayists in a 
secondary sense ; thus he includes all " compositions to 
which custom has assigned the .... name, but which agree 
only in being comparatively short .... and in being more 
or less incomplete." Bacon is the first author whom he 
treats at length ; and it is worthy of note that in this and in 
aU cases Professor Walker has discussed the thought of his 
writers, as well as their technique and historical place. Steele 
he prefers to Addison. To Goldsmith, as essa5rist, he gives 
the place that he deserves ; to Walter Pater, Jefferies, and 
Savage he is less, and to Richard Middleton more, than 
kind. The book is thorough, and it has the merit — rare in 
historico-critical works — of being really interesting and 
appreciative. 
" A Lady of Russia." By Robert Bowman, 
mann.) 6s. 
(Heine- 
Mr. Bowman is an Englishman who has lived long in 
Russia. He has not only become intimate with Russian life ; 
he has also evidently steeped himself in Russian fiction, 
for we can trace the unmistakable influence in his style. It 
is a very simple, direct story of the tragic fate of a gifted 
Russian woman, interested in the welfare of the peasants and 
the progress of her country, whom her husband, a high official, 
misunderstands, and whom the authorities consign to a 
Siberian prison. The book is worth reading as an example 
of an English novel about Russian life, written under Russian 
influences. 
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