Are _bitters_ proper to prevent a return of this state of gout? It will be a sufficient answer to this question to mention, that the duke of Portland's powder, which is composed of bitter ingredients, excited a fatal gout in many people who used it for that purpose. I should as soon expect to see gold produced by the operations of fire upon copper or lead, as expect to see the gout prevented or cured by any medicine that acted upon the system, without the aid of more or less of the remedies that have been mentioned. II. We come now, in the last place, to mention the remedies which are proper to prevent a return of that state of gout which is attended with a _feeble_ morbid action in the blood-vessels and viscera. This state of gout generally occurs in the evening of life, and in persons of delicate habits, or in such as have had their constitutions worn down by repeated attacks of the disease. The remedies to prevent it are, 1. A _gently stimulating diet_, consisting of animal food well cooked, with sound old Madeira or sherry wine, or weak spirit and water. Salted, and even smoked meat may be taken, in this state of the system, with advantage. It is an agreeable tonic, and is less disposed to create plethora than fresh meat. Pickles and vinegar should seldom be tasted. They dispose to gouty spasms in the stomach and bowels. Long intervals between meals should be carefully avoided. The stomach, when overstretched or empty, is always alike predisposed to disease. There are cases in which the evils of inanition in the stomach will be prevented, by a gouty patient eating in the middle of the night. 2. The use of _chalybeate medicines_. These are more safe when used habitually, than bitters. I have long been in the practice of giving the different preparations of iron in large doses, in chronic diseases, and in that state of debility which disposes to them. A lady of a weak constitution informed Dr. Cheyne, that she once asked Dr. Sydenham how long she might safely take steel. His answer was, that "she might take it for thirty years, and then begin again if she continued ill[72]." [72] Essay on the Nature, and True Method of Treating the Gout, p. 69. Water impregnated with iron, either by nature or art, may be taken instead of the solid forms of the metal. It will be more useful if it be drunken in a place where patients will have the benefit of country air. 3. The habitual use of the _volatile tincture of gum guiacum_, and of other cordial and gently stimulating medicines. A clove of garlic taken once or twice a day, has been found useful in debilitated habits predisposed to the gout. It possesses a wonderful power in bringing latent excitement into action. It moreover acts agreeably upon the nervous system.