Dolæus upon the cure of the gout by milk-diet / To which is prefixed, an essay upon diet

CHAP. V.

In the next Place we are to enquire into the Properties of Milk, and to find out whence it hath such wonderful Powers in asswaging and curing this Distemper. There are some Authors, especially the Followers of Sylvius, who according to the chymical Scheme would have Milk produced from the Blood in the following Manner; Chyle, which is of a white Colour, may be turned into Blood by the Help of Alcalies; and again the Blood may be reduced to Chyle by the Help of Acids. Junkius, in his Chymistry, hath noted the Experiments when Milk is to be turned into Blood: Take a Pound of new Milk, and mix with it an Ounce of reverberated Salt of Tartar in a large Vessel; in a Quarter of an Hour the Mixture shall turn into a Blood red Colour, several Fibres swimming at Top like Cream. When the Blood is to be turned into Milk, take any Quantity of the foregoing Mixture, and drop in some Vinegar, and it shall immediately re-assume the Form of Milk. In the first Experiment they alledge, that the crude Sulphur of the Chyle is by the Alkali exalted into a red Sulphur; in the second, the exalting Alkali is depressed by the Acid, whence the Sulphur returns to its original white Colour. Junkius is very justly doubtful of the Application of this Experiment; how the crude Sulphur of the Chyle, as they call it, should in so short a Time be changed into Blood by Alkalies, and the Blood, exalted by so many Circulations, be again changed into Milk by Acids, seems very strange. It requires a good deal of Time to change the Chyle into perfect Blood, and the Blood again into Milk, notwithstanding that Women who have no Milk find it in their Breasts soon after Childbirth.

SECT. 2.

In order to be fully satisfied of the Nature of Milk, it is necessary to examine into the Manner of its Generation: It seems reasonable to imagine, that the Chyle, once received into the lacteal Vessels, and at length mixed with the Blood, is never again let forth with the same Appearance; only in Women at the Time of Childbirth, when it is plentifully separated, through the Ramifications of the Arteries, by the conglomerate Glands of the Breast. There is evidently a great Agreement between the Milk and the Chyle, in as much as the Chyle consists of a watry, limpid and gelatinous Fluid, with oily or fat Globules swimming therein. These Globules are pellucid, and differ both in Size and Figure; the Reason of its Whiteness is to be imputed to this: The oily Globules are mixed with the watry ones, in such Manner that several very smooth Globules are formed, which reflecting the Rays of Light in right Lines, occasion a white Colour; the same thing is observable in making Emulsions with oily Seeds, or upon mixing resinous Essences with Water, or mixing Oyl and Water, and shaking them well together; in these Cases, the watry and oily Particles, being thoroughly mixed, occasion such a Superficies as reflects a white Colour. Bolin, and several Authors have proved, that the Milk is no other than oily or fat Lymph or Chyle, brought with the Blood to the Breasts, and there deposited in the milky Cells. Berger hath very well explained the Manner of its Separation in the Breasts. The whole Substance of the Breasts, in Women giving Suck, is made up of various Ramifications of Arteries, from the thoracick and mamillary Arteries, which terminate in oval Cells, or glandulary Follicles; from hence the Breast swells with many milky Vessels, terminating in the Nipple; through these the more oily and chylous Parts of the Blood are derived from the Glands, where it is not only separated, and received, but gathered and preserved, while the remaining Mass of the Blood is returned by the Veins and Lymphaticks. These milky Rivulets, after breaking very small from the Ramifications of the Arteries, flow together into several larger Trunks, which in their Progress are united by Insertions of their Parts, in some Places more dilated, in others streightned, from several Cells and Cisterns, where the Milk is gathered and preserved, so as always to have a sufficient Quantity for the Nourishment of the Infant. Lastly, as the Chyle is separated from the Mass of the Food in the Bowels, not by any Precipitation, but by Percolation only; and as in the making of Emulsions, the oily Seeds communicate an oily Milkiness to the Water, and is separated from the grosser Parts by the Sieve, without the Intervention of any precipitating Medicine, so the chylous Juice is separated in the Bowels by gentle Pressure or the Peristaltick Motion, and strained through the Orifices of the lacteal Vessels, to be thence thrown into the Mass of the Blood. In like manner, the Milk is barely separated, by straining the milky Particles from the Blood, through the small Ramifications of the Arteries in the Glands of the Breasts.

SECT. 3.

Nuck hath sometime ago demonstrated, that these conglomerate Glands are a Bundle of small Vessels; that their excretory Ducts are Continuations of the arterial Ramifications, and that these Glands owe their Origin to the smallest Branches of the Arteries: These Arteries, which enter the glandular Substance of the Breasts, are imperceptible to the naked Eye, and discoverable only by injecting a very fine Tincture (which Nuck tells us is known to very few Anatomists) into the Artery; this may be so far propelled, as to render the milky Ducts conspicuous. For the better Discovery of this Matter, Nuck instituted another Experiment equally curious and useful; having met a Nipple full of excretory Ducts, he pressed it, and the Breast adjoining, so as to empty all its Contents, and having pitched upon one of the widest Ducts, he injected Mercury so artificially, that he immediately observed the milky Ducts spread like Branchings of Trees; some Part of the Mercury was carried so far as to enter the Arteries, whence the milky Vessels were continued.

SECT. 4.

Hence it follows, that these milky Ducts are destitute of Valves, otherwise the Mercury and the injected Liquors would have been obstructed in their Passage. It is indeed observable, that these Canals are in some Places streighter and narrower than in others, so as to give some kind of Obstacle to the Injection; this is not to be imputed to Valves, but to some kind of Hardness peculiar to the Substance of the Glands, by which the milky Vessels are compressed. From hence appears the immediate Inosculation of the milky Ducts, with the small Ramifications of the Arteries, of which these Glands are composed; so that the arterial Blood propels and deposits its chylous and serous Particles by gentle Pressure and Impulse in the milky Ducts, without other Mechanism than bare Straining and Secretion. For the further and more exact Description of these Ducts, see Nuck’s Adenographia.

SECT. 5.

It remains now to examine, of what kind of Particles chiefly Milk is composed; which appear to be these three: The first is a fat, butyraceous, oily, and sulphureous Substance. The second is cheesy, earthy, chalky, and saline. The third is the Vehicle of these, viz. serous, which is watry, with a Mixture of nitrous Salts. But these Parts don’t hold the same Proportion in the Milk of all Animals; Cows Milk is most used in Food, it is thick and fat, and contains more Butter than the Milk of other Animals; upon which account it nourishes more, and is more agreeable to the human Body. Ews Milk hath more earthy and cheesy Particles; Goats Milk is in a Mean between these two, only that its Serum contains more of a nitrous Salt; whence Etmuller conjectures, that it hath all the Virtues of Whey made from Cows Milk, especially in Heats and scorbutick Cases. Asses Milk is of all the thinnest, next to human; the Milk of other Animals, as not so usually brought into Food, I forbear to describe.

SECT. 6.

It is manifest, that every Part of the Milk exerts an Effect proper to it self; the fat Part, from which the Butter is formed, preserves from the Stone, which affords an evident Reason why Stones taken from the human Body, upon Distillation, afford so small a Portion of Oyl; whence I am of Opinion, that the Stone is most commonly generated in the Kidneys and Bladder, when the Blood is not sufficiently stocked with oily Particles. Upon this Principle it is easy to see why all oily Substances, as Oyl of Sweet Almonds, taken plentifully, is a Remedy in the Stone; for the oily Particles (as Hoffman observes in his Notes upon Poterius) by their Hooks hinder the Saline Spicula from uniting so as to form an hard Substance. It is known in the Chymistry, that Oyl resists Crystallization; and many Artists that are minded to have beautiful Crystals, add rectified Spirit of Wine to their Lye, in order to absorb the Oyl. Upon the same Principles, the Precipitation of the earthy Particles, and the lodging thereof in the Membranes of the Joints, so as to form chalky Knots, are prevented. Poterius tells us of a Woman of Sixty, who was so reduced in her Flesh and Strength, that she was scarce sensible of Pain, who by the Help of Goat’s Milk, was in three Months Time restored to a State of perfect Health, notwithstanding a great Decay of Strength and Flesh, an Hectick Fever, and a Stone; she took at first but four Ounces of the Milk, which was at length increased to eight; at the End of fifteen Days she voided some oblong and Very hard Stones, upon which she began to recover. She continued the Use of the Milk for a Month, at which Time the Fever left her, her Appetite returned, and she began to gather Flesh. She was alive and hearty in the Sixty Eighth Year of her Age, when Poterius gave his Account. Although in this Case the oily Particles of the Blood might contribute much to lubricate the Passages, yet probably the serous Part of the Goats Milk, impregnated with a nitrous abstersive Salt, attenuated the thicker Humours, and irritated the nervous membranous Parts to discharge the Stones. It is observable that after taking plentifully of Milk, the Urine is not only thin and watry, but made also in large Quantities. This fat Substance in the Milk also loosens the Bowels and softens Pain, it resists corrosive Poisons, in as much as it sheaths and anoints the sharp Spicula thereof. Many Empiricks, to shew the Force of their Antidotes (which are generally good for nothing) to the ignorant Multitude, having lined their Stomachs well with Butter, or Oyl, either of Olive or Sweet Almonds, will securely swallow Mercury and even Arsenick, and afterwards taking the pretended Specifick, cheat the poor People of their Money. Poterius experienced the good Effects of Milk, plentifully taken, to break the Force of Poyson; for a Woman, who being very dry, had drank Aqua Fortis instead of Wine, was relieved from the immediate Danger of Death by drinking plentifully of Steeled Milk, with a Dram of Wax, a little Nutmeg, and Terra Lemnia. Tulpius, in his Observations takes Notice, that Goldsmiths, while they handle Mercury and Antimony, keep in their Mouths a bit of Bread thick buttered, or take fat Broths, to guard against their mischievous Effluvia. Milk, by reason of its Oiliness, is one of the best, temperate, and nourishing of Foods; nothing exceeds it in consumptive Cases. These Particles admirably temper any Sharpness in the Body, and are serviceable where the Kidneys are ulcerated, and to scorbutick People, especially if the Juice of Cresses or Scurvygrass be added to it, and taken two Hours before Meals. It is of great Service in Dysenteries, where there is great Sharpness in the first Passages, and chiefly after the Use of absorbent Medicines. Upon the same Account it eases Pains in the Eyes, and the serous Part of the Milk helps much to dilute the Salts; dropt into the Ear, it asswages Pains there, especially when it is attended with a buzzing Noise.

SECT. 7.

Since it appears that Milk, by reason of its oily Particles, is thus serviceable in mitigating and curing these Disorders, there is no room to doubt, from Parity of Reason, that the frequent Use of it in the Gout should not break and invert the austere, sharp, saline Particles, and drive them forth of the Body by Perspiration, Urine, or other Discharges; for, (as Waldsmid observes) Salts predominate in this Distemper, which is evident from the itching in the Skin observed to attend the Decline of a Fit. The volatile Salt of the serous Humour going off, insensibly frets the Skin, while that which is fixed in the thick and viscid Humour, and cannot easily fly off, hardens into Knots. I have observed, upon the Application of Blisters to gouty Persons, a Liquor of an high corrosive Nature to flow from the Part.

SECT. 8.

I now come to examine the second essential Part of Milk, viz. that which is cheesy, earthy, and somewhat saline. I am not of Opinion that the Acid of the Stomach is increased by this Part, for there is no Acid naturally in the Stomach; if there were, it would be mischievous. Although it be certain that Cheese is acid, and turns sharper by Age, yet those Particles which are precipitated into Chese, are vastly different in the Chyle and the Milk, from what they are in a State of Separation, and after being exposed to the Air. The Salts, which before were nitrous, and of a middle Nature, somewhat volatile, and mixed with oily, sulphureous, or earthy Particles, being agitated by an inward Motion, become more stiff and complicated. These Salts, while in a State of Union with the Milk and Chyle in the Body, by Means of the progressive Motion, are more disunited and smaller, the serous and oily Particles keeping them asunder; and there is neither Time nor Rest allowed them in their natural State to produce fresh Combinations, as they have when deprived of their progressive Motion, in a State of Separation from the Body. That Milk in warm Weather turns sowre, is to be imputed to its intestine Motion, where the Salts, before small and somewhat nitrous, mixed with the oily Particles by the Influx of the Air, change their natural Texture and Figure, and become more rigid and heavy, and so precipitate the light, viscid, and earthy Particles. That the Air contributes much to this Change, appears from hence, because that alone produces a remarkable Quantity of acid Salts in some Bodies. If a Piece of Alum be calcined in the open Fire, upon exposing it again to the Air, it shall double its Weight; so that a large Quantity of aluminous acid Salt may be drawn from thence: And although Milk be coagulated in the Breasts, it happens either from an acid Acrimony in the Blood, or its Motion being stopped, and some Obstructions of the milky Vessels. It doth not appear from any Experiment yet known, that healthy Milk fresh drawn contains any Acid; the Manner in which this Part of the Milk acquires this Tendency, I conceive to be this: We have already asserted, that Milk, in its natural State, contains no Acid, although after being exposed to Warm Air, by Means of some Fermentation and inward Motion, it becomes acid, which is to be look’d upon as a new Production, no way relating to Milk in its natural State. The cheesy Particles of Milk, if I may so call them, when in the Body differ extremely from those which out of the Body form the Cheese; for while in the Body, they are in the Shape of earthy, subtile, viscid Particles, mixed with the Milk, Chyle, and Blood; they give a due Consistence to the Milk, by duly mixing the oily, fat and serous Particles with them, and while in their due progressive Motion, keep the Milk in a proper Temperature, and occasion a slower Motion of the Milk through the milky Vessels.

SECT. 9.

It may be asked, How this Part of the Milk comes to be serviceable in the Gout, and other scorbutick Disorders? Because its Parts are slimy, chalky, and earthy, they gently temper the Acrimony of the Humours, and imbibe and absorb it; and this is the Reason why the Milk of Nurses who feed upon Acids, or whose Blood hath a Tendency that Way, soon turns; for such acid Particles being separated in the Glands of the Breasts, by coagulating and thinning the Milk, by separating from the other Particles of the Milk, and staying behind, are the Occasion that the Milk comes out unfit for Nourishment.

SECT. 10.

The third Part of the Milk, which is serous, contains watry, gelatinous and nitrous Particles; if Milk sowres and coagulates out of the Body, the gelatinous Parts of the Serum, being somewhat thicker and more earthy, change their Motion and Situation, and being more closely mixed with the oily Particles, become that cheesy Substance we before took Notice of. The Power of the Serum is to be attributed to its watry and abstersive nitrous Particles, by Means whereof it hath a Power of deterging, consolidating, sweetning and tempering the Acrimony of the Humours, and of increasing the Discharges by Urine and Siege; it removes Obstructions in the Bowels, heals Ulcers, and corrects the Sharpness of the Humours, in as much as it dilutes the acrid and volatile Salts, and fixes them by means of its nitrous Particles. It is of great use in feverish Heats, and by its alexipharmick Power is much esteemed in malignant Fevers, so that its Virtue in the Gout is less to be wondered at. In the Gout, the fixed morbid Matter sticking in the small Canals, and the Interstices of the Membranes and mucilaginous Glands, is very tough, viscid, sharp and austere; the serous Particles of the Milk easily pass through and pervade those Ducts and Canals, and by the watry Particles dilute those sharp Salts and stagnating Humours, and partly imbibe and absorb them; so that either by insensible Perspiration, Urine, or some other Discharge, they send them forth of the Body. For this End they correct and break them so as to make their Passage easier. It is observable, that the Salts of the Serum easily assimilate themselves to other Salts, and upon this Account a difference of Food occasions different Milk. Goats that have fed upon purging Herbs, Spurge or Scammony, as in Syria or other Countries where such Herbs grow wild, give Milk endowed with a strong purgative Power; and Saffron frequently given communicates both its Smell and Colour to the Milk.

SECT. 11.

For these Reasons those that feed upon Milk should take Care that the Animal they take it from have sweet and good Pasture; Cows give sweeter and better Milk in Summer, when fed upon odoriferous Grass, than in Winter on Hay and Straw. I do not think it necessary here, to recite all the Virtues of the serous Part of the Milk in the Cure of other Distempers, because they are well known to Physicians; but it may be observed, that the several essential Parts of Milk, which I have here explained, being united and thoroughly mixed, as they are in the Milk, exert a greater Efficacy in dissolving and breaking the Salts and viscid Humours that lodge about the Joints, and expelling the gouty Matter. When the Blood is impregnated with Milk, it yields a softer Liquor to the mucilaginous Glands of the Joints, so that the Membranes and Tendons are lubricated with a soft insipid Mucilage, and the natural Motions are performed without Pain or Uneasiness; or if the Membranes be too dry, or complicated with any sharp Matter, which occasions Obstructions, they are so relaxed, that upon removing the Obstruction they regain their former Force and Vigour. Care must be taken of what I before advised, that before the Milk be thoroughly brought into Use, the latent Acid in the Bowels be first corrected and discharged by absorbent and cleansing Medicines, and a laudable Diet premised for some Time, that no Coagulation of the Milk, or other Inconveniencies, be incurred. Upon this Foot a certain Cure is to be expected. A prudent Physician will easily dispose a Body whose Powers are not entirely destroyed to receive this Diet. Perhaps some may object here, that the Gout being caused by an acid Salt, rendring the Juices about the Joints more viscid and sharp, therefore so long as there remains a Disposition to the Gout, from this Cause, Milk cannot safely be brought into Use. To this I answer, That the Gout is often caused by a singular lixivial Salt, and bilious Acrimony, especially in Persons of a sanguine Constitution, where no volatile Acid is observable, either in the first Passages, or in the Blood; or if there be any acid Salts in the first Passages, by frequent Circulations they are so joined with the volatile Salt of the Blood, that they become lixivial and bilious. But when there really are acid Humours in the Body, by taking alcaline Absorbents and Cleansers of the Blood, and by proper Diet, they may be so corrected, as from Acids to become lixivial, and assume the Nature of middle Kind of Salts. Upon the frequent Use of alkaline Absorbents, the Pains of the Gout are mightily lessened, because the solid Spicula of the Acid are broke and changed. Upon this Principle, Dr. Willis his Mixture of the Solution of Salt of Tartar, and Sal Ammoniac, in Rain Water, externally applied, is an excellent Remedy. A Friend of mine used to remove the Pains of the Gout instantly, by an Ointment made of Quick Lime; and upon the same Principles, Spirit of Sal Ammoniac, Camphire, Spirit and Oyl of Tartar, and even Urine, wonderfully remove the Pain; as also Spirit of Scurvygrass, Cresses, Sal Volatile, Amber, and others of that Class. When the Humours that cause the Gout are more bilious, lixivial, and corrosive, these Medicines are not so proper; for volatile and spirituous Medicines increase the Distemper; but the more fixed nitrous Absorbents, oily and acid, ought to be externally applied; as Balsam of Sulphur with Amber, Bathing, and Spirit of Pismires, sowre Buttermilk, Herring Brine, the Juice of Earthworms expressed with Wine, as being full of nitrous Salts, a Poultice of Bread and Milk, with a little Saffron, or Bole, or sealed Earth, or the inward Use of the Decoctions of the Woods, and many other earthy Absorbents. Caspar Rheinbold, his Highness’s Principal Apothecary, prepares a Medicine from Gold chemically, which is an admirable Secret in the Cure of the Gout, of which I can attest the Truth. It is also excellent in the Stone, prevents its growing, and mitigates the Pain of it. The Antients exhibited the Juice of Earthworms expressed in Milk, with Success: By these Means the corrosive and volatile Salts are inverted, fixed, and thrown forth of the Body by Urine and Sweat.

SECT. 12.

Because the morbid Matter rests chiefly about the Tendons and nervous Membranes, especially in the mucilaginous Glands, and cannot suddenly and at one Push be driven out of such narrow Vessels and Cells; it is necessary to continue the Diet for a good while, till the Body be thoroughly purged of vicious Humours, and begins as it were to renew its Youth. Lenient and laxative Purgers are sometimes to be used, because the Stomach and Bowels in gouty Persons are weak; so that it often happens that Milk, by reason of the slow Progress of Chylification, by its intestine Motion, is vehemently agitated and precipitated, so as to occasion a Slime in the first Passages; but in a little Time this Evil is prevented by such Medicines as strengthen the Stomach, and prevent Coagulations in the Milk; the most lenient Purgatives are the best, and Rhubarb to be preferred for at the same Time that it evacuates, it gives a fresh Tone to the Fibres of the Bowels.

SECT. 13.

The Excellency of Milk, not only in the Gout, but in other Disorders, having been thus demonstrated, I shall subjoin the Judgment of some Authors in its Favour. Emmanuel Konig, in his Regnum Animale, admires the wonderful Power of Milk in Medicine, as well as Nourishment. Wepfer, in his Observations, says, there is certainly somewhat divine in Milk, since we see gouty Persons relieved by it, Hypocondriack and Nephritick Persons relieved by its use, the whole Habit strengthened, the Complexion cleared up, and fresh Powers acquired to the Body. He tells us, that he knew a Gentlewoman at Friburgh, who was in an almost miraculous Manner relieved from terrible Convulsions, Suffocation of the Womb, Hysterick Symptoms, by the Use of Milk alone, obstinately persisted in for some Years. Milk, by its asswaging, sulphureous Power, and its nitro-saline deterging Quality, dulcifies the sharp and acid Humours, whence its Cream and Butter thence arising, are very anodine; the one beat up with Sugar of Lead, corrects the corrosive Acid in cancerous Tumours; and the other drank warm in a Diarrhœa, mitigates the sharp Twitches in the Bowels that attend that Distemper, and immediately asswages and stops the Pain and Gripings. Externally applied and rubbed in a proper manner, it gives Relief in the Stone, and helps to propel it into the Bladder. Daniel Ludovicus hath asserted, that Butter either by it self, or mixed with other Ingredients, exceeds all the Officinal Ointments and compound Oyls. In Consumptions and Hecticks its Powers are very well known. Solenander and Konig advise a Pound of Milk, in which an Handful of Elder Flowers have been boiled, drank every Morning for nine Days successively in May, as a Specifick in St. Anthony’s Fire. Tachius tells us of what great Use it was in restoring crippled Limbs to a Person that was quite tired out with Baths, and other Remedies. In the German Ephemeris there is an Instance of an Hypocondriac Epilepsy cured by three Ounces of Milk, in which was dissolved half a Drachm of Spanish Soap, taken every Morning. And Sylvius tells us of many Icterical People cured by that Medicine.

CHAP. VI.

Before I finish this Discourse, I shall endeavour to give some Account why People that have been cured by this Method, and have lived many Years free from the Gout, at certain Times of the Year, particularly upon Change of Weather, or at that Time of the Year when they used to have the Fits, perceive some slight and obscure Pains about the Joints of those Limbs that were formerly attacked. This I suppose to arise from the Blood and Humours being thickned by the preternatural Influence of the Air at those Seasons; if upon such a Cause the Humours become thicker in the mucilaginous Glands, the Membranes must of course be distended. Now because this doth not proceed from any particular Acrimony, but from a Fullness and slight Distention, therefore the Pain thence arising is hardly perceivable, and vanishes upon gentle Exercise and walking, in which the Motion of the Blood is a little increased.

SECT. 2.

It is necessary in the next Place to propose and confute some Objections of Persons who refuse this Diet as extremely noxious. Altho’, say they, Persons have found great Benefit by strictly adhering to this Diet, yet upon returning again to the Use of common Food, however mild and gentle, they have been afflicted with the Gout worse than ever. The Powers of the Body being weakned by this Diet, have been less able to resist the Force of this Distemper, it hath become more dangerous, and the Fits of longer Continuance. If we may give Credit to Experience as well as Reason, we shall find this Matter far otherwise, for it appears from what we have said, that many Persons have not only been freed from the Gout in this Method, but have likewise continued free many Years after they have left it off; particularly the three Gentlemen now living at the Hague, the Marquiss de Bongi, Monsieur Chamar, and the Counsellour de Talo. It is observable, that having gone through the Diet, they returned to different kinds of Food, and have now lived with their Friends as usual without any Inconvenience for several Years, excepting the Marquiss, who twice or thrice in the Compass of nine or ten Years hath been afflicted with it, (probably owing to some Error in the Non-Naturals;) it is no less reasonable to believe, that where the Aliments are easier changed into good Chyle, and communicated to the Blood in proper Quantities, better Spirits should be produced, and of Consequence the Vigour of the Parts should be restored and augmented. That this is natural to Milk, appears from common Experience in the Diet of such as use chiefly Milk and Water, (as the Country People in Switzerland) for they exceed those of other Countries and Places who live upon Flesh-Meats, in the Largeness and Health of their Bodies, and the Floridness of their Complections, and you shall seldom find any among them subject to the Gout, the Scurvy, Hypochondriack, or other Distempers.

SECT. 3.

If any object that gouty Persons, in the Beginning of the Diet, find their Stomach and Limbs weakned by the Milk, so that they have need of Stomachick and other strengthening Medicines, let it be remembred that the Glands of the Stomach and Bowels in gouty Persons, that furnish the Stomachick and intestinal Juices, are obstructed and furred with a viscid kind of Matter, so that only the more subtile and liquid Fluids can enter their Pores; hence the watry Part of the Milk, with very few oily nutritious Particles, enter those Pores and Canals, so that the Chyle becomes too watry, not being sufficiently impregnated with a proper Quantity of oily Particles. This Chyle not being sufficiently stored with nutritious Particles, being delivered into the Blood, occasions a Languor and Weakness, while the thicker Parts of the Milk go off with the Excrement. But after a while, when the watry Parts of the Milk have frequently entered the Mass of the Blood, and have resolved, imbibed and inverted the corrosive Salts that coagulate the Humours, and expelled them by Perspiration or Urine; then by Degrees, those Humours that are separated in the Glands, and serve to the Concoction and Digestion of the Aliment, as the Spittle, the Juices of the Stomach and Bowels, the Bile, the pancreatick Juice, become thinner, and the Canals and Pores of those Glands are rendred fit, not only to receive the watry Parts of the Milk, but the oily nutritious Parts also, and of forming them into good and laudable Chyle. The Reason why gouty People using their ordinary Aliment, retain more Strength and Vigour, is this, not only the Pores of the Glands of the Stomach and Bowels are by long use more apt to admit Particles from their ordinary Food, but its Parts also are more thick and heavy, so that the chylous Part is protruded by the Weight of the superincumbent Particles. To this concurrs a particular Acrimony, by Means whereof the Coats of the Stomach are vellicated, and exert a greater Force in separating the Chyle, whereas Milk which presses more gently, does not so easily enter Pores stuffed with viscid Humours, but rather insinuates itself by Degrees in those Canals where it can find Passage. If the Tone of the Bowels be in a natural State, and the first Passages be not loaded with acid and viscid Humours, Milk from a natural Affinity, is more easily converted into Chyle, and nourishes and strengthens the Body more than any other Food, which takes more Time in its Digestion, especially if some fine unfermented Wheaten Bread be taken along with it; for by this Means the Parts of the Chyle are rendred more heavy, and easily enter the lacteal Vessels, communicate a solid Nourishment to the Body, and the Strength thereof is mightily restored, without the least Hazard of any Damage.

SECT. 4.

Notwithstanding what I have endeavoured to prove, that gouty Persons, after having been cured by this Method, may again return to their common way of living, without fear of a Relapse; yet I do not deny but it is an easy matter to bring on the Gout again, and that in a more violent Manner than before, by great Errors in Diet, indulging in acid Foods, smoaked Meats, and such as are flatulent and of bad Digestion; too frequent drinking of acid and generous Wines; giving way to the Passions of Anger and Sorrow, the use of Women, or being exposed to the Inclemencies of the Air. No doubt these will return the Distemper with great Violence, and bring the Patient into manifest danger. It is absolutely necessary to chuse such Food as will give Chyle analogous to Milk, and to avoid all Acid and Salt Food with the greatest Caution. And although some People have indulged their Appetites after the Cure, without any great Inconvenience, yet it is certainly more advisable to live moderately, since too much Boldness is not always successful; which the Patient will certainly be encouraged to do, upon recalling to mind the terrible Pains he hath suffered, hardly relievable by any Art.

SECT. 5.

It may be enquired how it comes to pass, that a Person cured by this Diet shall continue free from the Gout, though he return to his former Method of living, provided he take every Morning a small Quantity of warm Milk. The Reason of this I take to be, that the Milk, by long Use, during the Time of the Cure, hath either changed or expelled all the sharp Acrimony of the Blood and Humours, and rendred the Fibres and Membranes more loose, so that there is an easier Circulation of the Juices; new acid Salts are not so easily formed and thrown upon the Membranes so as to occasion the Gout, especially if the Diet be of a good Kind, and a certain Quantity of Milk taken every Morning, which by its plentiful oily Parts, and soft serous ones, prevents the Salts from uniting. I am sensible I may have omitted some Doubts that might arise against the Use of this Diet, but whatever they be, they may easily be answered from what was said before, and the Use thereof fully cleared up; for lesser Difficulties, it is not worth while to spend Time about them. I shall only add, that several People have expected the Cure of the Gout in the Use of Gruels and Water. As to Water, it is evident from Experience, as Poterius and Hoffman have observed, that it is frequently serviceable in removing this Distemper. Since gouty Persons are of a saline Constitution, there cannot be a better drink used than pure light Water, that will make its way both by the Skin and by Urine; for such drank freely drives forth the foreign Salts, and makes the Juices fluid. I have seen Persons cured of the Gout, whose Joints were contracting, by drinking only pure Spring Water in large Quantities. The Case of a Man, who was a Cripple for nine Years successively, from an ill cured Tertian, deserves Observation. He drank of the Water of this Place, which is very wholesome and something Vitriolick, for a Month together, sometimes to the Quantity of eight Quarts; he made Urine plentifully, and came gradually to the Use of his Hands and Feet; so that he could both walk and gripe any thing with his Hands in a short Time, to the Admiration of all those who knew his Condition before. From hence it appears, that large Quantities of Water do no Mischief, but by the Pressure are most powerfully deobstruent. I knew a gouty Gentleman who drank warm Beer with great Success in the Gout; and the Chinese, who drink their Water warm, are not subject to this Distemper. There are various Ways of removing Obstructions, and tempering the Acrimony of the Juices, but we are very much in doubt, whether by these Methods the very Cause of the Gout can be so thoroughly extirpated and conveniently cured, as by the Use of Milk; for Water drank in too great Quantities (as it is not endowed with any nutritious Particles) weakens the Tone of the Bowels, and damps the vital heat; though if it be used with Caution, in Distempers arising from an Acrimony of the Juices, it is very often of great Efficacy.

FINIS.

ERRATA.

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