We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
The glorification of gout in 16th- to 18th-century literature.
- Authors
Scholtens, Martina
- Abstract
The article discusses the beliefs about gout during the 16th to 18th century literature in Europe. Gout was regarded as a nobility badge explained in a famous fable about Mr. Gout and the spider. It was also considered as a talisman against other afflictions supported by an Irish author and satirist Jonathan Swift in his poem "Bec's Birthday" for his acquaintance Rebecca Dingley in 1726 and the English writer Horace Walpole in his letter that claimed gout's power to prolong life and prevent other illness. Moreover, its aphrodisiac properties were explored in the "Podagra Encomium of 1562" by a physician and mathematician Heironymus Cardanus of Pavia.
- Subjects
EUROPE; DISEASES &; literature; GOUT; 15TH &; 16th century literature; 18TH century literature; LITERATURE &; myth; LITERATURE &; medicine; SWIFT, Jonathan, 1667-1745; WALPOLE, Horace, 1717-1797; CARDANO, Girolamo, 1501-1576
- Publication
Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), 2008, Vol 179, Issue 8, p804
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1503/cmaj.080312