The acid thus taken into the stomach, or there formed morbidly by indigestion, becomes the lithic or uric acid when it has passed the kidneys, whether this uric acid is formed previous to secretion in the kidneys, is not yet determined by direct experiment. But that the uric or lithic acid is formed out of acid and ascescent vegetable matter, is manifest. Our food is partly animal and partly vegetable; now who ever suspected that an acid could be formed out of a beef-steak? Gout has been supposed to arise from large quantities of high seasoned food; rich soups, and made dishes, as they are called. Whether a man overloads his stomach by rich beef or turtle soup, the injury will be nearly the same; that is, indigestion from want of sufficient action. If you overload a horse uniformly, you will force him into the habit of stumbling, and he will stumble from To be sure, the indirect habit, even when his load is moderate. debility from the stimulus of spices, pepper, &c., in high seasoned dishes, which incite us to eat too much and to overload the stomach, is not to be neglected in considering the wholesomeness of food; but I am fully persuaded that animal food is very remotely, if at all, the cause of gout; and the rich dishes of the opulent are more wholesome in all respects, as well as more palatable, than the gross cookery of the poor. The immediate cause of gout and of stone, is, the fluids of the body overladen with uric acid; and the uric acid is formed out of the acid liquors taken into the stomach, and the acid liquors formed there from acescent vegetable diet. If in every pint of wine, we take a wine-glass-full of strong vinegar, no wonder our secreted fluids should put on an acid character. Under these circumstances, the exhibition of alkaline remedies in gout and stone is clearly indicated; including among alkaline remedies, the alkaline earths, lime and magnesia. Dr. Chittick's broth, Mrs. Stephens's Castile soap, Dr. Beddoes's soda pills, Dr. Falconer's aqua mephitica alkalina, Mr. Brande's magnesia, are all good. In the cure of the gout and stone, the physician must be directed by the symptoms of the disorder, and the age and habits of the patient. But a regimen may be used, which will guard against the return of the fits. All indigestion is accompanied with costiveness: acid indigestion with scybala. In females, half the hysteric cases, are simple cases of flatulence from indigestion. It is therefore necessary to keep the bowels regular. When litmus paper, shows that the contents of the vesica urinaria is decidedly acid-or when the lateritious sediment appears, or when the shooting pain down the inside of the thigh, or the itching of the end of the urethra takes place, alkalies should be resorted to. Three large tea-spoonsful of magnesia in one day, and half an ounce of Castile soap thinly shaved down, on the next, and so on for a fortnight, will generally counteract incipient attacks. In this way I have so decidedly neutralized the contents of the bladder, in four or five days, as to produce no change in litmus paper. It is hardly necessary to dwell on the necessity of abstaining from acids and from wine. The best drink for those whose habits render moderate stimulus necessary, is gin and water; the least hurtful beverage when taken in moderation, for those whose stomachs cannot bear water alone. But if taken in excess, the indirect debility of the stomach so produced, occasions the gin itself to be converted into vinegar. The best rum and the best brandy, are more deleterious even when moderately used. I have had strong reason to believe that morbid acid secretion is often the cause of diarrœha, and of hemorrhoids. The burning sensation occasioned by the fluids voided, is always the consequence of acid irritation. In many cases calomel acts with unexpected violence: may not this arise from the oxyd or sub carbonat being converted into a phosphat of mercury? I submit these facts and suggestions to your readers. T. C. February 17, 1817. The following macaronic verses were written by Dr. Geddes. All in a word, qui se oppressos most heavily credunt. Legibus injustis, test-oathibus atque profanis; Et placeas, postas, mercedes, munia graspant! 40 AGRARIUS DENTERVILLE; OR, THE VICTIM OF DISCONTENT. THE celebrated author of the Essay on Man, throughout the whole of that excellent performance, speaks no where with greater judgment or veracity, than where he affirms, and forcibly evinces, that "Man never is, but always to be blest." The animal and irrational part of the creation have, it is true, their various pains and their wants, their wishes and desires; but when once the former are alleviated, and the latter are gratified, the contented creature immediately sinks into a state of ease and tranquillity, and appears to be made perfectly satisfied and happy, by the agreeable melioration of its condition. But man alone, who is endowed with a superiority of reason, seems at the same time, by a strange and unaccountable contradiction, to be likewise gifted with supremacy of dissatisfaction. "In whatsoever station he is placed," justly observes the *Roman satirist, "whether his lot has been awarded him by the judicious hand of unerring reason, or whether it has been the gift of capricious and undiscerning fortune; he is invariably discontented." Even if, by a lucky concatenation of circumstances, he should at last acquire the possession of some favorite object which he has, perhaps, during a long series of years, indefatigably strove, or incessantly sighed to obtain; yet, wonderful as it may appear, instead of rejoicing at the valuable acquisition, he will probably, on examination, be found to be still more dissatisfied than formerly. Either the pleasure he at last receives is considerably diminished, if not wholly extinguished, by the unremitting labour and solicitude with which it has been acquired; either the object itself does not unfortunately arrive to that high degree of perfection with which long anticipation and a glowing imagination have portrayed it, or whatever else be the reason; yet, certain it is, that the first moment of his disgust may, in general, be safely dated from the first moment of his possession. *Horace, Satire I. lines 1, 2, 3, 4. Of this Denterville was a convincing example. Whilst he had lived in a private and almost solitary retirement, enjoying sufficient barely to satisfy his actual necessities, his thoughts had been invariably directed towards the superb mansions of the opulent; to the luxuries and voluptuousness he had heard and believed, they were constantly in a condition to enjoy; and to the happiness he imagined was naturally concomitant with their splendid and elevated situation. Now, raised by the indulgence of fortune to the exalted rank of those he had envied; the master of a magnificent mansion, and in the possession of an income adequate to the gratification of all his real and even imaginary wants; he felt, and it was with amazement, and almost with shame, that he felt, the same disagreeable discontented sensations which had so frequently haunted him whilst the inhabitant of a cottage. A short month had scarcely elapsed before his new abode had ceased to charm by its novelty; and during the course of another month, he began seriously to complain of its tiresome monotony. The pleasures of sense, after the repetition of a few times, delighted no longer, and his satiated nature soon sat down with indifference, and almost with disgust, to the luxurious feast and the sparkling banquet. Acquaintance he had scarcely any. His titled neighbours sedulously avoided any intimacy with a man on whom they unanimously bestowed the epithet of upstart; as he unfortunately had no relish for the sports of the field, his company was avoided with equal diligence by the gentry around, amongst whom he was distinguished by the appellation of a flat; and his own pride would scarcely permit him to condescend to associate with the low and illiterate inhabitants of the adjacent village, or the rustic tenants of his extensive estate. Even the trifling attention he was unavoidably obliged to allow to his domestic concerns, was considered as disagreeable, and almost as painful, to a person of his natural indolence of disposition. His aged, and, as it commonly is the characteristic of old age, his talkative steward, regularly disturbed him with a tedious account of some advantageous purchase he earnestly recommended him to make, with a long panegyric on his own wonderful judgment and unerring experience; or else with a still more tiresome recital of the various economical plans his prolific brain was perpetually producing for the better regulation and further improvement of the estate, and income of its new master. His servants would frequently apply to him for directions towards the management of his numerous household; and Denterville was often heard to exclaim, with the exaggerating voice of discontent, that his own situation was scarcely preferable to that of the lowest menial within the walls of his castle. "Alas!" said he, mournfully, to himself one day, "I am not yet satisfied. I perceive there is no good devoid of its concomitant evil; and the numerous pains are fully equivalent to the boasted pleasures of wealth. If the rich man has a greater profusion of delicacies daily spread on his table, than they can perhaps obtain who are placed in a humble state of poverty, he has at the same time less appetite to enjoy them; and the hungry labourer who always takes his coarse and frugal meal under the friendly shade of some neighbouring tree, may proudly boast of a luxury which the accumulated wealth of all the world, would be insufficient to purchase. Besides, how often have I dejectedly sat down since my prosperity, and cursed the hours that moved so heavily forwards. Formerly, whatever were my other misfortunes, I never then had it in my power to complain either of the wearisome length of the day, or the want of something constantly to employ me. What can I do? or how is it possible to remedy this glaring fault in my condition? I will," continued he, after a moment's rumination, "I will betake myself to study. My dear father whilst he was living, taught me a little, and I recollect he has frequently mentioned with pleasure, my docility to learn, and surprising quickness of comprehension. Besides, I shall by this method, I hope, occupy some of the leisure time that now seems to move so slowly." He no sooner had conceived his plan, than he was impatient to bring it into execution. He had now again something fresh to which he was able to look forward with sensations of delight, and his glowing fancy, always deceitful, painted to him the rugged road to literature, as if adorned with every flower. Different masters, and innumerable volumes of books, were brought at a large expense, from a great distance, and with all possible expedition, to the castle; and, for a short time, Denter |