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It’s probable that gout has been bedecked with more myths and superstitions
than any other disease. No wonder. Its history reaches back to ancient Greece.
It was supposed to be an aristocratic scourge, it was caused by port drinking,
it was tragic, it was comic, it prolonged your life. Gout: The Patrician Malady,
by Roy Porter and G. S. Rousseau is a marvellous book, discussing its history,
its medical treatment, its social and cultural effects and showing it as a
multi-influential phenomenon. An eye-opener. Published by Yale University Press,
£20.55, ISBN 0300073860.