Selections from essays on health-culture and the sanitary woolen system / by Gustav Jaeger ... (Tr. from the German.).

Gustav Jäger

Date:: 1891

Credit: Selections from essays on health-culture and the sanitary woolen system / by Gustav Jaeger ... (Tr. from the German.). Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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$one in consequence of the wetting. In fact, if, after a long walk, the feet are swollen and fatigued,—by stepping into water, the sense of discomfort is quickly dispelled, and the vigor of the feet is renewed. The socks and interior woolen soles, which prolonged walking renders hard and stiif, become elastic again with the water, and feel like velvet to the feet. The capacity of endurance of the feet, is much en- hanced by encasing them in woolen instead of in the ordinary leather material. Of the eight members of the pedestrian party already referred to, not one be- came in the least footsore, although we frequently walked upwards of twenty miles a day during the fortnight. In another case, an acquaintance walked for fifteen hours in Sanatory Woolen boots without blistering his feet. As the boots should fit quite closely at the ankle, and as side springs are objectionable, from causing perspiration and impeding evaporation,—the lace- up form is chosen, reaching to the calf of the leg. With a little practice, lacing-up soon becomes easy to those who are not already accustomed to it, and it is the only correct method of making the boot fit c!osel3\ Another material for boots which possesses great sanitary advantages, is leather made from undyed buckskin. I have tried tliis, now, for some time, both in dry and wet weather, and I can state that in point of durability it considerably surpasses ordinary slioe leather. Buckskin leather is, of course, not ini- ])erviou8 to water; but the feet remain, even when the boots are wet, not only as warm as in wet woolen boots, but perceptibly warmer, probably because the$