"As to my constitution, it has
always been sound. I have never suffered from any
illness in my life, save fleeting attacks of
cephalalgia, the result of too prolonged a
stimulation of the centres of cerebration. My father
and mother had no sign of any morbid diathesis, but I
will not conceal from you that my grandfather was
afflicted with podagra."

Source: The Collins English Dictionary © 2000 HarperCollins Publishers:

diathesis [daı'æθısıs]
noun
(plural: -ses [-ˌsiːz])
a hereditary or acquired susceptibility of the body to one or more diseases
[ETYMOLOGY: 17th Century: New Latin, from Greek: propensity, from diatithenai to dispose, from dia- + tithenai to place]
diathetic [ˌdaıə'θɛtık] adjective

I have often seen it used for a collection of symptoms for which an exact diagnosis is difficult: e.g. a hemorrhagic diathesis could mean bleeding for which the cause is obscure, perhaps an unstudied genetic disorder.

And what is podagra? I know I could look it up, but...

Literally pain in the foot. In gout crystals form in the joints, and there is redness, swelling and pain. The first joint attacked is almost always the first joint of the great toe. It seems to have been far commoner over a hundred years ago than it is now. I have no idea why.

I had to look up the name of the crystals - urates.

In gout crystals form in the joints, and there is redness, swelling and pain. The first joint attacked is almost always the first joint of the great toe. It seems to have been far commoner over a hundred years ago than it is now. I have no idea why.

because gout, (now considered a form of arthritis) is easily controled with diet-- proscribed foods include:
liver, kidney and other organ meats
turkey (especially the skin) and game fowl
venison
hard cheeses (especially cheddar)
port wine (fortified and dark red wines in general, right down to tawny sherry)
dark distilled alcohols (scots, rye, etc, --vodka, and clear rum in limitted quanities)

(there are other foods, but i didn't like them to start, so i had no reason to remember them!)

i've had gout for years, (as did my father--his is 'worse'--since he actually has 2 pairs of old shoes with the 'toes cut out' the he wears when he has been bad...)

after my first 'attack'-- i haven't had another serious attack-- the holidays are hard-- i like port wine and cheddar cheese, i love turkey,(especially the skin!)and i love sherry as an aparatif...

but if you stay away from game, and steak and kidney pie, and pork sausages, (especially liver sausage, and another favorite, chopped chicken liver, mmm, mmm) and 'dark alcohol'--wines or distilled-- you can live your life 'free' of 'attacks of gout'!

i find i can have a some of one of the foods, --but if i have a 'little of all of them'--i am doomed... the pain is horrid.. its rather easy to say 'no thanks'--to even the most wonderful foods, how ever well prepared.