FEET (The)

To preserve the feet in a proper condition, they should be frequently soaked, and well washed in warm or tepid water. The nails of the toes should be pared, to prevent their becoming inconveniently long, and from growing into the flesh, soaked, and well washed in warm or tepid water. Many persons suffer severely from TENDER FEET . This generally arises from the use of thin cotton or silk stockings, and boots or shoes that are either too tight or stiff, or not sufficiently porous to permit of the escape of the perspiration. Waterproof boots and shoes which are also air-tight (as those of gutta perch a and India rubber), are common causes of tender feet, and even of headaches, dyspepsia, and apoplexy. The best treatment of tender feet is the immediate adoption of worsted stockings or socks, and light, easy shoes of buckskin, goatskin, or some other equally soft kind of leather. It is highly nece ary for the preservation of health to preserve the feet DRY ; persons who are, therefore, exposed to the wet, or who are frequently pa engers through the public streets in bad weather, should regard sound and good boots and shoes as of the first importance. In fact, in a hygienic point of view, a wet back should be le shunned than wet feet. Many persons frequently experience EXTREME COLDNESS and NUMBNESS OF THE FEET . The best and most natural remedy for this is active exercise or friction, the former being always adopted when po ible. In such cases the use of warm woollen stockings is absolutely nece ary, and the debilitated and aged may advantageously keep them on throughout the night, or at all events until the feet acquire a comfortable degree of warmth. The DISAGREEABLE ODOUR which is evolved by the feet of some individuals in hot weather may be removed by the observance of extreme cleanline , and by occasionally soaking the feet in warm water, to which a small quantity of chloride of lime or sal ammoniac has been added. A good deodoriser for unpleasant smelling feet is said to be the following, invented by M Paulcke:—A mixture of equal parts of salicylic acid, soap, talc, and starch, to be applied in the form of powder. Distortion of the feet is not uncommon in childhood, being sometimes congenital, but as frequently the result of weakne or bad nursing. “A child with its feet turned inwards is called VARUS ; when they are turned outwards it is styled VALGUS . The proper use of bandages, early applied, will generally correct these deformities; but if they be neglected in infancy they become incurable.” (‘Med. Lex.’) Clubfoot , of which there are several varieties, may also be frequently relieved by a simple surgical operation. See Boots and Shoes , Distortions .