De podagra et podagricorum curatione doctrina

54. That matter flows from the head is indicated by heaviness of the head and neck, catarrh or distillation, and often also the perception of cold or shivering.
55. From the internal veins, if besides these things pain infests another part with a slight fever and a certain irregularity, if the part immediately swells and turns red.
56. The quality of the humor is shown by both the variety of the pain and the effects of any humor.
57. The variety of pain, either in its property or in its movement or exacerbation.
58. The effects of the humor, both the swelling and the color.
59. If, therefore, Gout has begun from blood, the pain is pulsatory, the daily motion shorter, the swelling notable, and the color red.
60. In bilious gout, the pain is sharper, the exacerbation is tertian recurring every third day, the color is yellowish from red, and the swelling is less evident.
61. In phlegmatic gout, the pain is moderate, the daily agitation longer, the swelling softer and longer-lasting, and the color whitish.
62. If melancholy black bile is redundant, the pain is deep, the motion is quartan recurring every fourth day, the swelling is harder, and the color appears blackish.
63. Prognostics concern the end of the disease, from which we argue for an easy or difficult cure.
64. Such are these: that any gouty disease ends within 40 days once the inflammation is settled.
65. Likewise, that men and the elderly are more prone to this defect than youths and women, even if the latter are of a colder nature.
66. And therefore, the onset of joint pains in youth signifies a short life.
67. The cure for this affection is therefore easy when one assists it as soon as it appears.
68. Gouty pains that arise in spring and autumn are also cured more easily than those that arise in other seasons.
69. Similarly, varicose veins arising during those pains argue for healing.
70. The cure is more difficult if the pains are confirmed and become habitual in those in whom they are generated.