The white of eggs has been heretofore condemned absolutely as food in gout. Yolks are allowed by some. Eggs are, of all things, purin free, and I do not hesitate to recommend them, cutting down the nitrogen somewhat by eating the white of one to each two yolks. Thus we get a palatable morsel and not gluey, as yolks are alone. Butter and cheese may get traces of purins from the milk, yet are practically purin free and are to be eaten in fair amounts. Most writers hold up their hands in horror at cheese, so highly nitrogenous! I do not advocate eating a pound of common cheese at a meal, as a ploughboy may do, but I do advocate for the gouty good white bread and butter and enough of good Rochefort or Ca-membert or other good ripe cheese to give zest to this purin-free combination. Yes, my gouty friend, eat a little cheese with your bread and butter, and you will feel better and be in better humor than if you had eaten a tasteless mess of some supposed nitrogen-free food.

Some day, from the exigencies of your condition, you will probably be compelled for a time to live in a great measure on rice, of all others, the vegetable food for the gouty. You get tired of this with plain butter, salt, and pepper, if you are not a Chinaman or a Jap. You can manipulate boiled rice in many ways to make it palatable. Just enough of some good sauce as served with meats or vegetables to moisten the rice will transform its taste and add little or no nitrogenous matter. A little of any gravy will do it, but be sparing here, for gravies are by no means purin-free. Just a mite of cheese here and there through the rice and well mixed will be to some a most savory dish. Clams and oysters go well with rice, especially their juices.

Drink milk; yes, milk is all right up to, say, three pints in twenty-four hours. White bread and milk are a good combination. Brown bread has .02 per cent. purin nitrogen and is not so good to use as white bread, which is purin-free, or nearly so. Tapioca is purin-free.

As to fruits, we have spoken of them at length. As a rule, they are low in nitrogen and may be eaten in moderation, as should everything. It is necessary to study the individual here. There is some doubt whether or not the gouty should eat strawberries and raspberries. These do not agree with some even very healthy persons. They produce urticaria and such troubles, which come through the nerve supply to the blood-vessels and through the digestive tract in the shape of slight ptomain poisoning. Some persons suffer after eating these fruits; while Linnaeus, who was a great sufferer from gout, said he never was well except in strawberry season, when he ate them in great quantities. If there is a general reason why the gouty should not eat strawberries and raspberries, it may be that the acids therein contained may have an adverse effect on the system in the excretion of nitrogen in various forms. If this is so, it may be more marked in some persons than in others, and hence the terries may agree with some and not with others. As to tomatoes, eat them sparingly on account of their acidity. Raw tomatoes are probably better than cooked ones. Rhubarb and spinach are not good for the gouty on account of the oxalic acid they contain.

Green corn is good food for the gouty, and so is celery. If you eat soups, those made from milk with purin-free vegetables are best. Clam and oyster soups may be eaten in reasonable amounts. Avoid the broths and meat soups. Be very careful not to eat, as a rule, the glands of animals, as sweetbread and liver. They are almost poison to the gouty. When one eats meat, remember mutton is less injurious than beef. Poultry we have spoken of as about equal to the stronger meats. Game is very strong in nitrogen. Rabbit is among the least strong. Of fish, oysters, clams, crabs, and lobsters are allowable in moderate amounts. Remember, fish are nearly as high in nitrogen as meats, red and white, and remember, too, we eat a good deal of fish, as a rule, at a meal; so be very careful not to deceive yourself, my gouty friend, when you are living on fish as a light diet. Salmon is a most objectionable fish for the gouty. Halibut comes next, and then cod, shad, bass, smelts, and perch. Flounder is about the lightest food of the fishes. Tripe is lighter than most fish, but is quite fatty. For the gouty the loin of pork is more objectionable than the neck. Neither one is good. Fat meats are better than lean meats, if any at all be eaten. As a rule, avoid eating quantities of salt and smoked fish. As a mere relish for bread and butter, a little may be eaten now and again. Do not eat rich dressings on fish and such. What becomes of the natural flavor of the lobster, for example, when saturated with mayonnaise?

After all we have said it will be inferred that the gouty person should not absolutely confine himself to a single article of diet, or a few articles even, except under the guidance of competent authority. A little of anything is even better than making a pig of one's-self on rice or eggs alone. Read over Professor Chittenden's experiments on himself and his squad and you will learn a great deal as to rational living, whether healthy or gouty. I doubt if any one of his party, living as they did, would ever develop gout. Gout is the child of excess in food and drink either inherited or acquired. Again let me say and reiterate, the gouty person must practice moderation in all of his eating and drinking; he must surely " eat to live" and not "live to eat." The more torpid his life the less he must eat and drink. His diet must be such as to withhold purin substances from his body, and yet be such as will be digestible and palatable, easily absorbed, and capable of keeping up in his system a nitrogenous equilibrium.

Allow me to make a prediction. Gout is largely a condition of suboxidation in the individual, either inherited or acquired, and its treatment in the future will in a large measure be conducted on the lines now so successfully carried out with such wonderful results in the treatment of tuberculosis, as regards the open air and sunlight and diet methods. We are beginning to see the good results to all who carry out these methods, not only in tuberculosis, but in many other conditions. Breathe in pure air, supply the system with more oxygen, and the whole body organization is strengthened, and man becomes a renewed being, able to throw off many diseased conditions which now overwhelm him. By these methods the causes of many diseases are literally burned up in his body and he comes out reinforced and reinvigorated.

I am connected officially with the Delaware State Hospital at Farnhurst where more than three hundred and fifty insane are under treatment. At this hospital we have recently erected a special hospital for all tuberculous patients. The building is modern and in every way up to date. After eighteen months' use of this building Dr. William H. Haucker, the superintendent, is enthusiastic at the results he has obtained; not only is the spread of tuberculosis checked in his general wards, but the tuberculous cases in the special hospital are greatly improved as to the tuberculous condition, and the improvement of the mind conditions are such as to cause him to consider seriously the application of the same treatment to his general patients.