On Gravel, calculus & gout : chiefly an application of Professor Liebig's physiology to the prevention and cure of these diseases / by H. Bence Jones.

Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On Gravel, calculus & gout : chiefly an application of Professor Liebig's physiology to the prevention and cure of these diseases / by H. Bence Jones. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    88/172 (page 66)
    RELATION OF CALCULUS ten to put an end to all action. Exertion increases the respirations and causes thus more oxygen to be absorbed, and so more action takes place. Purga- tives remove the bile, which contains an excess of carbonaceous matter, on which the oxygen would otherwise act to the hindrance of its action on the nitrogenous substances; whilst alkalies and water hold the uric acid dissolved, and promote the changes in the tissues. By these views, also, the relation of gout to acid- ity, to uric acid, and oxalate of lime calculi, is most plain. They all arise from the same cause, the want of action of oxygen. The calculus is only one or two steps further than the gout towards the state of health, towards that end which nature in most diseases endeavours to attain; for the evils to which the uric acid would give rise if it remained, can be prevented by its passing off unchanged, as in the case of the uric acid, or only partially changed, as in the case of oxalate of lime, though this is at the risk of an accumulation taking place in the kidneys or bladder ; and that head-ache, heaviness, wandering pains, frequently come on when the accustomed de- posit of uric acid ceases, is well known to those who constantly suffer from the uric acid diathesis. In all constitutions predisposed to gout, the rule of Sir W. Temple as regards diet is the most in ac- cordance with reason. It is given almost in the very words of Liebig's language:—Simple diet, limited by every man's experience to his own easy