The military shoe : First prize in the official military competition in 1874 / by S.A. Salquin ; assisted in the technical part by the brothers Giacomo and Stefano Tirone, of Turin ; wth a preface by Division Colonel Lecomte ; tr. by H.L.B., under direction of the quartermastergeneral, U.S.A.

  • Salquin, S. A.
Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The military shoe : First prize in the official military competition in 1874 / by S.A. Salquin ; assisted in the technical part by the brothers Giacomo and Stefano Tirone, of Turin ; wth a preface by Division Colonel Lecomte ; tr. by H.L.B., under direction of the quartermastergeneral, U.S.A. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    no practical uor definite solution of the matter, for, with the exception of some few improvements, the shape, stj^le, and make-up of the mili- tary shoe remain as they ever have been worn in all countries. With the exception of the shoe, there is no part of the clothing which has not undergone either numerous improvements or a complete change. Such will continue to be the case for a long time to come, if we refuse to understand that the shoe has never had a form similar to that of the foot, and that nothing has been done to give it a form more or less ap- proaching it. But it is to be hoped that a question as vital for the Army as it is imi^ortant for the material well-being of the troops—the strong arm of the State—will cause the prejudices that every new inven- tion meets with in its path to disappear. And, moreover, this does not appear as a naw invention, but, on the contrary, it is a demonstration of a purely anatomical, pathological, and scientific principle; and what astonishes us is that no physician has made it known before this time, since it would have been sufficient for him to assert its existence, and to show that nothing is more simple than to apply it to solve, once for all, the important and disputed ques- tion of the Army shoe. That state which desires to have a really capable army, and of which it can be said it is truly an army upon a good footing, ought to be interested above all to know how it can march. This duty is one of the most important that can be imposed upon a state; for it is well known to ns all that the numerous experiences that have been repeated everywhere, of the inability of troops to march, have been deplorable in every respect. These experiences are so much more to be deplored, since the in- quiries, the investigations, and the tests of every kind to which they have given rise, have failed to discover the single and only cause of the great number of men who, having bruised feet, claim a place in the ambulances and the assistance of medical skill. It is true other causes have also contributed to this result; but the principal fault, whence arise all the others, is that which we have in- dicated at the beginning of this work. The shape of the shoe is not the same as that of the foot. ISTo country has furnished ah exception to this unfortunate rule, for the style of shoes generally adopted at the present time, is regulated by the desire for elegance and not for comfort. ■ The Swiss army is not only in the same situation, but it is still more exposed than any other to the inconveniences of the shoe worn by its troops, for it is the soldier who furnishes it and not the state. The result is that all jiossible shapes and qualities of shoes are represented in the Swiss army, and the injuries from them much more disastrous. This state of things has been verified at all times, and in a still more striking manner since the occupation of the Swiss frontiers in 1870-'7]. The universality of the complaints which have arisen under thi« state
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