LAND AND WATER 
October 30, 1915. 
IN THE GRIP OF GOUT. 
T 
WARNING SIGNS OF URIC ACID OVERLOOKED. 
AKE a score of brisk, healthy-looking people at 
random from those you meet in the street: anion;,' 
them a medical man would be able to pick out a 
high percentage of sufferers from gout. The 
peculiarity of this, our national disease, is that ona 
ma\ be in its grip without knowing it. Gout masks its approach 
insidiously and presents symptoms we generally associate with 
other and minor ailments. . ,, 
The tendency to develop gout— "Gouty Habit, as it is 
termed— results in abnormal production or deficient removal of 
uric acid from the system. The result is accumulation of uric 
acid in tlie body. It is at this stage of gout that pain in the 
chest and back and flatulence are experienced after meals; 
and drowsiness, headache, irritability, contribute to a general 
malaise that no "tonic" or "digestive" can remove. When 
symptoms of this sort make their apj>earance between the ages 
o'f 35 and 40 (the gouty age), uric acid may well lie suspected as 
the cause. As a ru]e,''the development of gout is ne.xt marked 
by the appearance of small hard lumps beneath the skin — 
usually on the rim of the ear, upon the eyelids, or upon the ankles 
or finger joints. These nodules are actual concretions of uric 
acid ; whoever finds himself subject to them may know that he 
is ill tlie grip of gout. 
VARIATIONS OF GOUT. 
If these signs of gout are neglected, or pass unrecognised, 
the disease soon assumes its better known and far more distressing 
[urms, such as acute gout. What happens then is the crystallisa- 
:ion of the uric acid, and its collection in one or more of the joints, 
;'eiicnJly a joint in the foot. The attack begins, as a rule, by 
a sharp'burning pain that steadily grows worse, until it reach s 
a frightful intensity. The joint swells rapidly, and is of a dull, 
purplish-red colour, with the skin drawn very tightly o\er it. 
In the course of a few days the inflammation and swelling 
subside and the pain dies down ; but repetitions of the attack 
may with confidence be expected so long as the uric acid is 
allowed to remain in the system. 
The uric acid often attacks tiie principal nerves of arm or 
thigli— and the darting tortures of neuritis or sciatica ensue. 
.\ tingling and numbness of the limb usually precede an attack, 
then comes the pain in all its severity, followed-by the lameness 
of sciatica, and -the muscular weakness of neuritis. 
Much, gouty suffering is due to rheumatism ; that agonisingly 
painful stiffness of the muscles is most often entirely a gouty 
stiffness caused by uratic deposit. Lumbago, too, is another 
form of gout. Gouty eczema is caused by the irritant presence 
of uric acid in tlje skin. Kidney stone and gravel are uric acid 
compounds. 
THE BANE OF URIC ACID. 
If only uric arid can be expelled from the system, the gouty 
subject may enjoy lasting freedom from the extremes of pain 
that otherwise are sure to follow its spread throughout the 
body. Wliat is needed to accomplish this is a powerful and active 
uric acid solvent and eliminant, that will expel the uric acid 
completely from the system. This rational and scientific method 
of ridding the system of uric acid execs'; is provided by Bishop's 
Varalettes. Long experience has shown them to possess to the 
full the qualities necessary in these circumstances. 
For many years physicians have prescribed Bishop's Vara- 
lettes to their gouty patients for both relief and prevention of 
all forms of uric acid disorders. A remedy which, like Bishop's 
\'aralettes, has won the appro\'al of the critical medical faculty 
of this countr}', whose knowledge of gout and its treatment is 
unequalled, may certainly deserve the confidence of all gouty 
subjects. 
FOOD TO A\'OID. 
Dieting is recognised as an important feature in the treat- 
ment of some cases. Certain foods — particularly those rich in 
nitrogen — tend to augment the formation of uric acid. Those 
who have the " Gouty Habit," or who already suffer from gout, 
will therefore do well to learn what these foods are and how best 
to avoid them. The choice of a non-gout-provoking diet need 
not, however, entail any particular hardship, for of suitable uric- 
acid-fiee, yet palatablej foods there arc plent}'. In a useful book 
])ublished by the makers of Bishop's Varalettes, the dietetic values 
of most articles of food are discussed from the gouty subject's 
point of view, and authoritative information is given regarding 
not only dieting, but other factors in th'^ treatment of gout. 
Copies of this book may be obtained without charge from the 
sole makers of Bishop's Varalettes, Alfred Bishop, Ltd., Manu- 
facturing Chemists, 48 Spclman Street, London, N.E. Please 
write for booklet N. 
Bishop's Varalettes are obtainable at all chemists, is., cs., 
and 53. ; or they may be had from tlie makers. 
horseflesh I ' Indeed, she understood, she had eaten no 
thine else for the la.st two months I 
'' liut from day to dav, as his convalescence pro- 
pressed, our ta.sk grew more difficult. That numbness 
of all his limb.s and sen.ses which had aided us so greatly 
hillierto, began to disappear. Two or three times the 
terrible volleys of the Porte Maillot made him start and 
prick his ears like some old hunting dog. We were 
obliged to invent a final victory by Bazaine before 
Beriin, and .salutes fired in honour of this at the 
Invalides. Another day, when his bed had been pu.shed 
near the wind-.w— it was, I believe, the Thursday of 
Huzcrval, he saw the National Guard who were forming 
up on the Avenue de la Grande Armee. 
" 'What are those troops doing there? asked 
tiie old man. and we could hear him grumbling under 
his breath. ' Slovenly I Slovenly.' Nothing further 
happened, but we realised that henceforward we must 
take great care. Unhappily w^e did not take care enough. 
" One evening when I arrived the child came to me, 
sorelv troubled. 
'• ' They are entering to-morrow,' she said. Could 
the door of 'her grandfather's room have been open? 
It is a fact, that, thinking the matter over afterwards, I 
remembered, that evening there had been an odd ex- 
pression on his face. It is probable that he did hear us. 
Only we were speaking of the Prussians; and he, poor 
man, was thinking of the French, and the triumphal 
entry he had awaited so long : MacMahon riding down 
the avenue strewn with flowers, ringing with trumpet- 
calls; his son at the Marshal's side, and himself on his 
balcony in full array at Lutzow saluting the torn 
flags and (lie eagles blackened with powder. 
" Poor father Touve ! No doubt he thought they 
\\ould want to hinder him from being present at the pro- 
cession of our troops, so as to spare him too much 
excitement. So he spoke of it to no one, but the next 
day, at the time when the Prussian battalions set out 
cautiously upon the long stretch of road leading from 
the Porte Maillot to the Tuileries, the upper windows 
were gently opened, and the Colonel appeared on the 
balcony, with his helmet, his great sword, in all his 
glorious array, an old cuirassier of Milhaud. I mar- 
velled what effect of will, what sudden flash of life had 
set him thus, fully equipped, upon his feet. One thing 
was certain ; there he was, standing behind the railing, 
amazed to find the streets so empty, so silent, the 
shutters of the houses closed, Paris, gloomy as some 
city of the plague ; flags, indeed, flying everywhere, but 
all .so strange, all white with red crosses, and no one 
there to gaze at our soldiers. 
" For a moment he thought himself mistaken. But 
no, down there behind the Arc de Triomphe was a con- 
fu.sed noise — a black line moving forward into the light. 
Then gradually the spikes on the helmets gleamed out 
— the little drums of Jena began to beat, and under the 
Arc d'Ktoile, keeping time with the heavy tread of the 
battalions, with the clash of the sabres, burst out the 
triumphal march of Schubert ! . . . Then in the dreary 
silence was heard a cry — loud and terrible — ' To arms I 
To arms ! The Prussians 1 ' 
" And the four Uhlans of the advance guard could 
see up above a tall old man, who tottered and waved his 
arm— and then fell stiffly forward. This time Colonel 
Trouve had his death-blow." 
Such well-known chemists as Professor Sir H, E. 
Eoscce, Sir J. Dewar, Professor Meldola, and F. M. Perkin 
have contributed chapters to The British Coal Tar Industry, 
edited by Walter M. Gardner, M.So. (Williams and 
Norgate. 10s. 6d. net). By means of their work and 
that of other erniuent specialists the history of the 
coal-tar colour industry in Britain and in Germany is 
thoroughly explained up to the outbreak of the war. In tho 
seccnd part of the book Lord Moulton'a speech at Manchest«r 
Town Hall in December of last year, Professor Frankland'» 
notes on the chemical industries of Germany, and articles by 
other writers, comprise a lucid exposition of the present! 
state of the industry in Britain, its possibilities, and it« 
needs — notably the need for more chemista. 
i'rinled by the Victoria House PaiNiiNQ Co., Lid., Tudor Street, ^Vhit€f^iar», London, g.O. 
