Johann Doläus

“ And even in Men, who have proper Organs for digesting both animal and vegetable Food, and consequently by Nature designed to use both, we find a remarkable Difference according to their Diet. The Inhabitants of fishing Towns, who may well be supposed to feed thereon, are strong, nervous and prolifick; and their Discharges, [39] especially their Sweat, are often attended with a very strong rancid Smell. The Difference between these People, and some poor Peasants in the Country, who have no other than vegetable Food, is too obvious to mention. ”

“ We have shewed before how the Mass of the Blood becomes impregnated with a saline Acrimony, more or less Acid, from a sharp and indigested Chyle, and the Powers of Digestion weakned and impaired; whence is easily explained how the Lymph and acrid Serum is communicated to the mucilaginous Glands, and the smallest Branches of the Arteries, so as to infect and coagulate the Mucilage, in Proportion to the Quantity of Salts they contain. ”

“ 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. ”

“ While the digestive Powers of the Body are in such full Strength and Vigour, as perfectly to assimilate the Food into its own Substance, and they be not oppressed with greater Loads than they are able to manage, the Choice of particular kinds of Diet will be of little Consequence; but these are always defective in gouty Persons, and these Defects are productive of different Habits in different Constitutions, which must be attended to in Rules for Diet in general, as well as in the Gout. Long Habits are not suddenly changeable with Safety ”

“ The Coagulum of the Mucilage made with an Acid, and the Infusion of the Peruvian Bark and several other Astringents, I kept and dried, which when they were first put to the Teeth, seemed a little gritty, though after they were moist they were of a softer Nature. All the Mixtures made of the Mucilage with an Acid and an Austere, produced not only a plentiful Coagulation of a white Colour, but such a one as was of a thicker Consistence, and not Soluble in fair Water, as that was which was made with an Acid only. ”

“ Among the chronical Distempers, which owe their Origine to irregularities in Diet, the Gout is neither the least considerable nor frequent; though perhaps the best and least dangerous Way of clearing the Blood of the morbid Matter; for it naturally tends to the Extreams, and is generally so great a Tyrant, that it will suffer no other Distemper to rage but itself; upon this Account it is that People wish for, and are complimented upon the Gout, as an Indication of the vital Powers being in such Strength and Vigour, as to drive forth the gouty Matter ”

“ It is to be observed here (as before concerning Vegetables) that the nearer the nutritious Juices are to their Roots, the more they partake of the Nature of their Origine; but the more they are mixed with animal Juices, and the greater Number of animal Circulations they pass through, the more they acquire an animal Nature. The Chyle in Animals feeding upon Vegetables is Acid, and generally speaking it is so in Men, because their Diet is more so than otherwise. The Milk is less Acid than the Chyle, but turns perfectly so by standing. ”

“ From what was said before, it is evident that an Animal, whose Juices are supplied from animal Juices, hath a more alkalescent Tendency than an Animal supplied with vegetable Juices; that is, the Salts are more highly volatilized, and impregnate the Oyls, Water, and other Fluids in a stronger Manner, and in greater Quantities; and in Fact, we find the Substance of such animal Bodies, as are fed upon Animals, or Use stronger Exercise, are more liable to Putrefaction, than the Substance of Animals that feed upon Vegetables, and are more slothful. ”

“ But if while the Body is ill prepared, or full of vitiated Juices, the Milk-Diet should be preposterously brought into Use, they will not only be disappointed in their hopes of Relief, but bring certain Destruction, and Increase of their Disorders ”

“ Their Volatility may Occasion their being more easily brought into a State of Action, but at the same Time makes their Expulsion out of the Body quicker and easier. A fit of the Gout is no other than an attempt of Nature to collect and expell these Salts out of [55] the Body, which, if successfully performed, leaves the Person free from the Gout, till such Time as from the natural Course of the Food, or other Causes, the Blood and Juices become again overcharged with gouty Matter, to such Degree, that Nature attempts the same Way of Relief it before experienced, and occasions another Fit. ”

“ It is more material at present to examine the several Juices which circulate in the Vessels of Vegetables, because, in regard to Diet, they will appear to be the Matter of Animal Nutrition; for the Vessels of Plants are no other than meer Earth bound or connected together with Oyl, by the Means of some very powerful Attraction: This Earth is undissoluble by the utmost Force of Fire, since after burning a Plant in the open Fire, we find it left entire. ”

“ It [6] will suffice to examine with Accuracy the Nature of Animal and Vegetable Diet, and the Habits they produce in the human Body, and to apply this to the Nature and Symptoms of the Gout.
The Knowledge of the particular Quality of the Gouty Matter is not absolutely necessary to our present Purpose; it is sufficient if it be made to appear, that the whole Habit of the Body may be changed by Diet. An Animal is entirely composed of the Food it is nourished by, the first Stamen, or Principle of Life, is most exceedingly small ”

“ It is a great Loss to Observations of this Kind, that the Motions and Quantities of Matter are so far beyond our Senses, as to be incapable of being reduced to any certain Measures, which prevents that strict Mathematical Certainty we have arrived at in the Knowledge of the Properties of Motion in larger Bodies, more within the Compass of our Senses; the Gravitation of the heavenly Bodies, and of Bodies upon our Earth, to their respective Centres, have been reduced to certain Measure ”

“ I think it cannot be out of the Way here to observe, that the Change which the Aliment suffers in the human Body, is in some Measure reducible to this; for if a Man should live entirely upon acid Vegetables, acid Bread, and Fruits, drink Rhenish Wine, no Part of his Body or Juices would, upon Distillation, or other Tryal, yield the least Portion of an acid or fixed Salt, but constantly a volatile Alkali. There cannot indeed be supposed any perfect Putrefaction in the Bodies of Animals ”

“ But what will not bend, must not be broke; vegetable Food is too flatulent, and gives too little Nourishment to many Constitutions, who require Food already assimilated into animal Substance. Stomachs [67] long used to Wine, require it in Digestion, and in many Cases and gouty Constitutions, even while a Cure is attempting by Diet, a little Flesh Meat must be allowed at certain Times, and the Powers of the Body kept up, by the Moderate use of Wine, chusing the easiest of Digestion, and the softest of each Kind ”

“ 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. ”

“ There is an innate Principle of Heat or Fire, that attends the vital Powers, that may very well occasion the Change and Volatilization of Salts in animal Substances, in the same Manner as was before observed in the Putrefaction of Vegetables. ”

“ Fish, Foxes, Hawks, Venison, Horses, have their Substance [38] more liable to Putrefaction, and discover to our Senses more exalted Salts and Oyls, than tame Fowl, Sheep, and Oxen; the Juices of poisonous Animals have them still more exalted, as in the Viper.
Animal Substances being already assimilated, are more easily transmutable into other Animals, and therefore more nourishing than Vegetables; accordingly we find such Animals as are nourished by animal Food, to be more couragious, robust, active, bold, strong, than those which are nourished by Vegetables only. ”

“ It may fairly be concluded from hence, that Milk is not proper Food in acid Constitutions; for if Milk, upon the Mixture of Acids, turn into Curds and Whey, it is reasonable to expect, that if it be taken by [47] Persons whose Bodies abound with Acids, it shall be separated into a thin serous Fluid, and a strong Coagulum; which turning grumous, may cause Obstructions in the Viscera, while it ceases to be mixed and diluted with the Serum, which instead of performing that Office, may go off in the Discharges of the Skin, or of Urine, leaving the Body pale, faint and weak ”

“ Thus being partly freed from those Salts, the Gout does not seize other Parts with the same Violence; for frequently a large Quantity of such vitiated Humours are secerned by Urine, Sweat, and other more open Passages; and it even often happens, that Persons whose Juices are much corrupted, have avoided the Distemper by the Laxity and Openness of their Vessels; yet these very Persons, when the Blood becomes [127] oppressed by these saline Particles in so great Degree, as not to be readily discharged by the larger Passages, they affect the Mucilage in the Glands and occasion the Gout. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The cravings of Nature, and the returns of Appetite are thought to be better Indications for a supply, than the Weight of the Body, and so indeed they would be, if left to themselves; [52] but we eat without Hunger, drink without Thirst, and lie a bed at times unnatural to sleep. I need not add that these are the People that want most the Helps of Medicine. The Quantities of Food, and the unnatural Encrease of the Body may be attended to, without running into ridiculous Extreams of nicety ”

“ Body, which is to be computed by the Degree and Length of the Distemper, and Observations upon the Cure in others. The longer it is continued, the more perfect Cure is to be expected; those that are over-run with the Distemper, are always to use it, others for an Year, and others for an Year and an half; some Persons who have, upon continuing it only for half an Year, thought themselves perfectly cured, and have returned too soon to their former Method of living, have so far exceeded, as to be seized again with the Gout, but returning to the Diet, have been cured ”

“ 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 [141] 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. ”

“ Since it appears that Milk, by reason of its oily Particles, is thus [153] 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Physicians have, with very great Prudence, turned their Thoughts to other Methods of Cure; for this End, it was very proper to consider the Gout as the Distemper of the Rich and the Lazy, that it flows chiefly from Idleness and Fulness of Bread; that Persons afflicted therewith have naturally keen Appetites, and are apt to indulge in larger Quantities and cruder Kinds of Food, than the digestive Powers are able to deal with; that it chiefly happens to sedentary People ”

“ Nature in healthy Bodies, whose vital Powers are sufficient to subdue the Substances they feed upon: But in such as have not that vital Power in that Degree, or commit Errors in Diet, where these Salts are not sufficiently attenuated, or the first Digestion stronger than the concoctive Powers or the Discharges, these Salts acquire Properties productive of many acute and chronical Diseases ”