jan 1, 1859 - Lithium used as a cure for gout by Alfred Baring Garrod

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In 1847, London internist Alfred Baring Garrod discovered uric acid in the blood of gouty patients. Garrod made the lithium treatment of gout—including “brain gout” —widely known in his 1859 work, The Nature and Treatment of Gout and Rheumatic Gout, and subsequent editions (4). Amdi Amdisen and F. N. Johnson have recently reviewed lithium’s early history (5, 6). By the 1930s, a number of lithium-containing products were on the market, mostly indicated for the control of renal calculi and the “uric acid diathesis.” For example, in 1939, the German pharmaceutical index, The Red List (Die Rote Liste), featured “Lithosanol Bauer,” a combination product of lithium citrate and several other components for kidney, bladder, and gallstones (7, 8).

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