untitled


L
iterary references to gout are a
prime example of the insight
into popular perceptions of dis-

ease that historical writings offer.
While praise of podagra is currently in
short supply, the merits of gout have
been extolled over the centuries by
physicians and laypersons. In the past,
gout was regarded as a badge of nobil-
ity, a talisman against other afflictions
and an aphrodisiac, and these beliefs
were preserved in 16th- to 18th-cen-
tury literature.

A mark of nobility
Gout as a disease of the nobility was
referred to and explained in a popular
fable involving Mr. Gout and the spi-
der. This story has been traced to the
ninth century,1 and the first English
version of it was recorded in a medical
handbook by the Puritan Richard
Hawes in 1634.2

tained with a soft cushion, with down
pillows, with dainty caudles, and deli-
cate broths. In brief, he did like it so
well, that ever since he takes up his
lodging with rich men.”3 

This fable purports to explain
gout’s apparent predilection for the
upper class. Gout was referred to as
morbus dominorum et dominus mor-
borum, lord of disease and disease of
lords,4,5 because of its respectable an-
tiquity and its association with intem-
perance afforded only by the wealthy.
Gout was personified as one of the
Greek deities, Podagra, born of Diony-
sus (Bacchus), the god of wine, and
Aphrodite (Venus), the goddess of
love.5–7 The idea that gout resulted
from service to these gods and was a
consequence of overindulgence in sex,
food and wine was recorded by an-
cient Roman authors and persisted into
the Christian era.6–8

The tale tells of Monsieur Gout and
his travelling companion, the spider.
Mr. Gout lodged with a poor man, and
the spider with a rich man. When they
reviewed their accommodations the
next day, both had complaints.

“‘Mine,’ said the Gout, ‘was the
worst as ever I had, for I had no sooner
touched the poor man’s legs, thinking
there to take my rest, but up he gets,
and to thrashing he goes, so that I had
no rest the whole night.’ 

‘And I,’ said the spider, ‘had no
sooner begun to build my house in the
rich man’s chamber, but the maid
came with a broom, and tore down all
my work.”3 

They then agreed to change places
and were so pleased with their respec-
tive new homes that they each decided
to put up permanent residence, for the
spider’s webs were not disturbed by the
poor man, and “the Gout he was enter-

The glorification of gout in 16th- to 18th-century literature

Past progressive

D
O

I:
10

.1
50

3/
cm

aj
.0

80
31

2

me with her; we both hope it stays that
way for a long, long time. There are
many challenges however, and also op-
portunities in this
newest phase of our
marriage and per-
sonal lives. A gifted,
tough-minded, but
warm psychologist
overseeing 4 mental
health clinics in
British Columbia,
she has been forced
to shut down her
own clinical prac-
tice. A large part of
her identity centred
around her work,
with the many
clients that she has
helped over the years and the associated
rewards of appreciation from those she
has helped, and of knowing that she has
provided quality psychotherapy and that
at the end of the day she has indeed
made a difference. 

ing. Making up. Making love. Teasing
and joking. Snuggling. Tasting her su-
perb rhubarb crisp. So just as in the
time before Alzheimer disease came
into our lives, on our very best days we
live contentedly in the moment, in the
here-and-now. 

After all, isn’t that what any of us
would do on a good day when we’re
with those who count — our family
and friends? Alzheimer disease is just
an unkind, uninvited stranger in our
midst. But we don’t have to wait until it
comes rudely visiting before we enjoy
our wife or husband or partner, other
family or friends, before we appreciate
— and acknowledge — how much they
mean to us.

My grandmother said it better than
ever I could have. “Make hay while the
sun shines!” she would remind me to-
day. 

David Kirkpatrick MA MD
Psychiatrist and psychotherapist
West Vancouver, BC

As for me, I have learned that I can
make 2 types of mistakes in our daily
to-and-fro and give-and-take. The first

kind is the anxious
husband reaching out
to help his wife when
she neither needs nor
wants assistance. The
second type of error
sees me missing an
opportunity to help
her when she gen-
uinely needs it. Type
1 errors are more
common and really
tee her off. Type 2 er-
rors are mercifully
less frequent, or so
she says. 

I comfort her when
she’s having a bad day, feeling irritated
or frustrated. And sometimes I feel
cheered up myself, reassured and re-
lieved in being able to be there for her.
Most days we enjoy each other and,
sometimes, hugely. Laughing. Fight-

The Left Atrium

CMAJ • OCTOBER 7, 2008 • 179(8)
© 2008 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors

804

Fr
e
d

 S
e
b

a
st

ia
n



A good-luck piece
Another popular idea of 16th- to 18th-
century Europe was that gout was a
remedy rather than a disease. Jonathan
Swift (1667–1745), the Irish author and
satirist, articulates this concept in his
poem for his acquaintance Rebecca
Dingley entitled “Bec’s Birthday”
(1726).

As, if the gout should seize the head,
Doctors pronounce the patient dead;
But, if they can, by all their arts,
Eject it to th’extreamest parts,
They give the sick man joy, and praise
The gout that will prolong his days:
Rebecca thus I gladly greet,
Who drives her cares to hands and feet.9

Gout was understood to be incom-
patible with most other afflictions, in
keeping with the age-old idea that dis-
eases were mutually exclusive. As
such, gout was regarded as a cure, a
vaccine, an insurance policy against
worse illness.5 In his letters, the English
writer Horace Walpole claimed, “It
prevents other illness and prolongs life.
Could I cure the gout, should not I have
a fever, a palsy or an apoplexy?”5 He
went on, “I believe the gout a remedy
and not a disease, and being so no won-
der there is no medicine for it, nor do I
desire to be fully cured of a remedy.”10

Gout was sought by some who did
not have it. In the 18th century, patients
suffering from consumption or melan-
choly were sent by their physicians to
the waters at Bath in the hope of ac-
quiring gout and so ousting their other
sickness.5,10

Podagra as an aphrodisiac
Gout was also touted as having aphro-
disiac properties. The earliest reference
to gout as an aphrodisiac is the Poda-
gra Encomium of 1562 by Hieronymus
Cardanus of Pavia (1501–1576).

11

A
physician and mathematician, Car-
danus explained in his encomium, a
formal yet facetious expression of
praise, that: “For with Venus and Bac-
chus and the feasts of voluptuaries an
abiding covenant serves as check, and
such a cause of happiness is she [the
gout] that those who are restrained by
her are compelled to lead lives that, ex-
cept for the pain itself are happy. For

patient today, I would prefer to temper
the announcement with the reassurance
that the condition guaranteed increased
social status, a reduction of cancer risk,
and an end to Viagra refills.

Martina Scholtens MD
John Ruedy Immunodeficiency Clinic
St. Paul’s Hospital
Bridge Community Health Clinic
Vancouver Coastal Health
Vancouver, BC

REFERENCES
1. Rodnan GP, Benedek TG. Gout and the spider.

JAMA 1970;211:2157.
2. Benedek TG. Popular literature on gout in the 16th

and 17th centuries. J Rheumatol 1987;14:186.
3. Eamon W. The tale of monsieur gout. Bull Hist

Med 1981;55:564-7.
4. Hart FD. Gout and non-gout through the ages. Br J

Clin Pract 1985;39:91-2.
5. Porter R. Gout: framing and fantasizing disease.

Bull Hist Med 1994;68:1-28.
6. Rodnan GP. Early theories concerning etiology

and pathogenesis of the gout. Arthritis Rheum
1965;8:599-610.

7. Benedek TG. The gout of Desiderius Erasmus and
Willibald Pirckheimer: medical autobiography and
its literary reflections. Bull Hist Med 1983;57:526-
44.

8. Benedek TG, Rodnan GP. Podagra by Gottfried
Rogg: an illustrated encomium on the gout. J Hist
Medicine Allied Sci 1963;18:349-52.

9. Swift J. Bec’s Birthday. In: Williams H, editor.
The poems of Jonathan Swift. 2nd ed. Oxford
(UK): Clarendon Press; 1937. p.761.

10. Copeman WSC. A short history of the gout and the
rheumatic diseases. Berkeley and Los Angeles:
University of California Press; 1964.

11. Benedek TG. Disease as aphrodisiac. Bull Hist
Med 1971;4:322-40. 

she does not render them sterile but re-
stores them to Venus with increased
prowess.”11

T.G. Benedek reviews several rea-
sons that were postulated for this sex-
ual performance–enhancing character
of gout.11 In his 1588 essay, “Of Crip-
ples,” Michel de Montaigne, the
French Renaissance writer, explains
that when the legs are crippled (by any
cause) and “do not receive the food
that is their due … the genital parts …
are fuller, better nourished, and more
vigorous. or else that, since this defect
prevents exercise, those who are
tainted by it dissipate their strength
less and come more entire to the sports
of Venus.”11

In 1693, Gerhardus Feltmann, a
17th-century Dutch jurist, suggested
that the sexual prowess of a person suf-
fering with gout was due to the incubat-
ing effect of bed rest on the reproduc-
tive organs: “For when a patient who is
suffering from gout is forced to lie on
his back, anyone who knows that the
channels of the sperm trace their source
to the kidneys can easily and at his
leisure comprehend that the loins and
kidneys are hot and inflamed.”

11

Historical conceptions of gout may
be entertaining and the current meta-
bolic definition of the disease consid-
ered a scientific advancement, how-
ever, if I were to diagnose gout in a

The Left Atrium

CMAJ • OCTOBER 7, 2008 • 179(8)
© 2008 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors

805

N
a
ti

o
n

a
l 
Li

b
ra

ry
 o

f 
M

e
d

ic
in

e