The term retrocedent or suppressed gout still lingers in medical nomenclature, largely, we think, as a tribute to tradition, for rarely indeed is it invoked in current literature. Known since the days of Galen and Aretæus, it originally signified a condition in which sudden _inhibition_ of the _acute joint affection_ is followed by or coincides with the development of serious _internal_ symptoms referable either to the gastro-intestinal, cardio-vascular, or nervous system. Thus, there may be, _e.g._, vomiting, diarrhœa, dyspnœa, cardiac arrhythmia, cerebral hæmorrhage, delirium or coma. Naturally for our forefathers the abrupt subsidence of the joint disorder with the incidence, as fulminant, of severe and alarming _visceral_ symptoms appeared to be an example of true _metastasis_. That death, tragically sudden, so often ensued, but rendered more imperious the necessity for explanation; and, in the then state of knowledge, the proffered assumption could hardly be regarded as anything other than a perfectly legitimate and useful hypothesis. The retrocession of the articular affection in _acute_ examples of gout ensues _abruptly_, but in chronic types it usually transpires more gradually. Often no cause is assignable, but frequently the so-called metastasis has followed exposure, chill, or the imprudent application of cold to the inflamed joints. The late Dr. Parry, of Bath, in one winter saw two instances of apoplexy follow “the removing of gout in the extremities by immersing the feet affected in cold water.” In some, following the same revulsive procedures, severe _cardiac_ pain has ensued with syncopal attacks, sometimes fatal, while in others _gastro-enteric_ symptoms of like gravity have developed. It is the _asthenic_ types of gout that, according to Duckworth, are most prone to _metastasis_. When the phenomena occur rapidly, flitting from place to place, they have been designated “flying gout.” Nevertheless, as before said, the most dramatic examples arise in _acute sthenic gout_, though in their instance less likely to occur spontaneously than in sequence to depressing external agents, _e.g._, cold lotions, etc. Reviewing the recorded examples of _retrocedent gout_ in the light of latter day experience, it is, we think, most significant that no such dramatic examples apparently occur nowadays, at least none to which the term “_retrocedent gout_” appears applicable. The designation, indeed, bids fair to become obsolete. What then is the explanation? That even to-day cases of acute articular gout yield to, or are replaced by, functional _visceral_ disturbances, of varying degrees of gravity, is certainly true. But, partly through increase of knowledge and partly through the growth of a more critical attitude, we seldom, if ever, feel justified in ascribing them to _gouty metastasis_.