In a majority of cases, the pain of gout is only a proper punishment for dietetic and other transgressions committed by the sufferer. Complete and permanent cure can only be effected by the adoption of a vegetable diet, and the disuse of all forms of alcoholic beverages. All the habits of the patient must be regulated in accordance with the laws of hygiene. Excess in the quantity as well as in the quality of food should be avoided. He should practice free water-drinking, taking anywhere from four to ten glasses of pure water per day. Abundant exercise in the open air should be daily taken. The affected parts should be carefully protected from the cold. The patient should take daily fomentations over the region of the liver and kidneys, as well as over the affected parts. Either dry or moist heat may be used for the relief of local pain.

In bad cases it may be necessary to employ heat continually. Hot-air, vapor, Turkish, and Russian baths are excellent means of eliminating from the system the waste and excrementitious material which lies at the foundation of this disease. A wet-sheet pack is equally valuable for the same purpose. Wearing of a moist abdominal bandage night and day for several weeks is also a useful measure. During the attack, the affected limb should be elevated above the level of the body, carefully covered with cotton or wool, and the patient should abstain from food almost entirely, for two or three days, taking only a little gruel or toast once or twice a day. A celebrated French author recommends the drinking of six ounces of hot water every fif teen minutes during the attack. The active sweating which will be produced by this measure will certainly be conducive to recovery.