A Treatise on the Nature and Cure of Gout, Comprehending a General View of a Morbid State of the Digestive Organs; and of Regimen: with Some Observations on Rheumatism

London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1816. First edition.

1816 RARE FIRST EDITION LANDMARK EARLY 19TH CENTURY STUDY OF GOUT IN BRITAIN.

9 inches tall hardcover, xix, 402 pages, original paper covered boards with recent cloth spine, original paper label affixed to spine, new endpapers. Dedicated to Matthew Baillie, M.D. Pages uncut and unmarked except for early ink owner's signature top of title page. Covers soiled, edges and corners worn. A nice copy of the rare first edition.

SIR CHARLES SCUDAMORE (1779-1849) was third son of William Scudamore, a surgeon. He began his medical education as apprentice to his father, and continued it at Guy's Hospital and St. Thomas's Hospital in London. He earned his M.D. at Glasgow University and was admitted a licentiate of the College of Physicians of London, in 1814. In 1824 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Scudamore is best known for this treatise on gout. ""It is based on the author's observation of about one hundred cases of gout, and contains one of the first contributions to the study of the distribution of gouty changes throughout the body"" - DNB. He attributed the rarity of gout in Glasgow to the constant walking even of the rich citizens. He was the first English author who mentions the frequent presence of a circular chest, instead of an elliptical one, in persons subject to gout. A second edition appeared in 1817, a third in 1819, and a fourth in 1823. In 1839 he printed a Letter to Dr. Chambers on gout, repeating his former views.

MATTHEW BAILLIE, FRS (1761 - 1823) was a Scottish-born physician and pathologist. He was a pupil of his uncle, the anatomist John Hunter and his father-in-law, Dr. Thomas Denman, a pre-eminent obstetrician in London.