SYMPTOMS.--The disease has no uniform mode of invasion. (_a_) Very frequently slight disorder of health, such as debility, pallor, failure of appetite, unusual sensibility to atmospheric changes, grumbling pains in the joints or limbs, or even in some muscle or fascia, precedes by one or more days the fever and general disturbance. (_b_) Not infrequently a mild rigor or repeated chilliness, accompanied or soon followed by moderate or high fever, ushers in the illness, and in from a few hours to one {27} or at most two days the characteristic articular symptoms ensue. (_c_) In very rare cases febrile disturbance, ushered in by chills, may be followed by inflammation of the endo- or pericardium or pleura before the joints become affected. Whatever the mode of invasion, the symptoms of the established disease are well defined, and marked febrile disturbance, transient inflammation of several of the larger articulations, excessive activity of the cutaneous functions, and a great proclivity to inflammation of the endo- and pericardium constitute the stereotyped features of the disease. As a very general rule, the temperature early in the disease promptly attains its maximum of 102° F. to 104° F., yet the surface does not feel very hot; the pulse ranges from 90 to 100 or 110, and is regular, large, and often bounding; the tongue is moist, but thickly coated with a white fur; there are marked thirst, impaired appetite, and constipation; the stools are usually dark; the urine scanty, high colored, very acid, of great density, and holding in solution an excess of uric acid and urates, which are frequently deposited when the urine cools. The general surface is covered with a profuse sour-smelling perspiration, whose natural acid reaction, as a general rule, is markedly increased; indeed, the naturally alkaline saliva is also acid. Beyond a little wandering during sleep, occasionally observed in irritable, nervous patients, there is very rarely any delirium, and this notwithstanding that sleep is frequently much disturbed by the pain in the joints and the excessive sweating.