Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 2, 1802).djvu/421

GOU r>r Squash. It has a long creft stalk, •• veral feel in height, which . towanK the top. Jt pi knotty fruit, of a mo- derate size, and is used like the 5. The ligriosa, Ligneous-shelled Gourd, or Calabash, which has long trailing stalks, extending along the ground m every direction. Its smooth rouridish fruit is provided with hard woody sh lis. All these species of the Gourd bave several varieti; s, and the fruit ntly changes it form. They are raised from seed, set an- nually in the month of April, or in the beginning of May. But, it' the plants be forwarded in a hot-bed till they are a month old, they will produce fruit six. weeks earlier, and mature comparat dy .-■ • mer. The first species, or Buttle Gourd, how- ever, seldom ripens in Britain with- out the aid of artificial heat. Hence these plants are in our climate cul- tivated chiefly for curiosity, but in the East and West Indies, Bottle- Gourds are sold in the markets, and constitute, during the summer months, the principal food of the common people, who bwil and sea- son them with vinegar ; and, some- times filling the shell with rice and meat, prepare a kind of pudding. These, shells are employed as flasks for holding water, and likewise converted into spoons, funnels, and even hats. — Lastly, it is remark- able, that the stalks of the different species of the gourd contain a con- siderable proportion of nitrous par- ticles, and might therefore become useful in the manufacture of salt- petre. GOUT, or Podagra, a disease ot the Proteus-kind, thus defined by Dr. Cullen : It is hereditary, and commences without any ap- G OU te*9 parent external cause, but is in most instani es prece led by indiges- t. mi. OT other .ll'eetion of th mach ; its paroxysms arc ushered in with fever, pain at the joint, ge- nerally, of the great toe, always at- tacking the joints, and chiefly those of the feet or hands : it re- turns at intervals, often alternates w it Ii indispositions of the stomach, or ot' er internal parts. Forerunners of the Gout : — Indi- gestion often returning ; thick se- diment in the urine, sometimes for a whole year previously to the pa- roxysm, while that fluid emits the flavour of milk ; vomiting, hic- cough, -and frequent pains of the forehead. Peculiarities of the disease : — ■ Chalky excrescences appear on the joints, which shortly before death also cover the face 3 the gout infci ts dogs licking the sore or tumefied parts of their master, and, accord- ing to some authors, it may Hke- w ise be communicated by clothes : it occurs most frequently in the spring ; is often connected with the stone or gravel ; and I13.S some- times been confounded with acute rheumatism. Causes : — Acid food, especially sour cherries ; the immoderate use of fish, sugar, wine, cyder, and spirituous liquors ; in short, luxury and debauch of every kind ; sup- pressions of diarrhoeas, dysenteries, or the hemorrhoidal flux 5 repul- sion of the itch, scurvy, or other cutaneous' eruptions ; sleeping on fresh hay. &e. Pretie/ition and Cure. — Although this obstinate disease has generally been considered as incurable, and thus become too often die boon of the most ignorant pretenders, yet we believe that the want of success in the profession, must be ascribed C c 3 partly