26. Immoderate Perspiration will be the lot of some few readers of these "Hints." This is an annoying condition of the feet, not unhealthy in itself, though the odour is disgusting where it is excessive. It is needless to say that extreme cleanliness and neatness is here of moral obligation and medical utility. Let such as are subject to the affection avoid the folly of attempting to check it, unless they desire to pay the penalty of injured health thereby. Let black stockings be avoided, for the dye increases the disagreeable smell. Woollen should be always worn. The feet should be very rarely washed, but wiped occasionally with a moist, often with a dry, towel. Socks should be often changed.

27. "As it often happens during the day that the healthiest feet are affected with a redundant perspiration," remarks the author of the "Art of preserving the Feet," "which feels inconvenient as the body cools, it is always proper, as soon as exercise ceases, to change both stockings and shoes, drying the feet hastily with a proper towel, and using, at pleasure, the spirituous sponge." By giving attention to these, and the following quotation from an experienced military officer, Col. Shaw, "Memoirs of Wars in Spain and Portugal," the feet will be best prepared to cope with flinty. roads and long exertion. The Colonel remarks:"The great difficulty in walking is to keep the feet in good order. This can be done if a little attention be paid at the first. For some days before starting, dip your feet in hot water as often as possible for a few moments; then rub them quite dry. Let this be done morning and evening, till you find the feet quite free from a damp feeling. Provide yourself with a goodsized tin box, full of the best yellow, or, as it is called

in some places, soft soap. It has something the appearance of honey in the comb. Before starting in the morning, rub the soles of the feet, especially about the heels and toes, well with the soap, until it has the appearance of a good lather for shaving; and then put your woollen stockings on. Let this be done every morning before starting, and you will find, even in the hottest or wettest weather, you will be able to do a great deal of work, and at the end of the day find your feet cool and free from blisters. Instead of washing the feet at the end of a journey, rub them first with a damp cloth, and then dry them completely. In some places on the Continent it is not possible to get this soap; but in almost every apothecary's shop you can purchase stag fat, which does very well; if you cannot get stag fat, buy goose fat or hog's lard. At first I rubbed the feet with these fats mixed with spirits, which is an improvement; but nothing will stand comparison with yellow soap. Have your stockings washed as often as possible; and if they have not time to dry during the night, they can be easily buckled on the outside of the knapsack. By attending to these directions, and by instantly rubbing yourself dry, and putting on fresh flannels and linen at the end of your day's work, and eating as much animal food as possible, yet drinking no more than is necessary, both body and feet will get into the highest possible condition."

Some persons are apt to suffer a good deal from chafing of various parts of the body-these people are those whose frames are, like infants, more or less loaded with fat which developes creases in the folds of flexible parts. This annoyance may be obviated by taking care to anoint well all such places with some grease or other-or what answers still better, on the evidence of

an old pedestrian, fullers' earth, which has great cooling properties. Soldiers on march under the burthen of their weapons, knapsack, &c. suffer much occasionally in this way, the continental military in particular, if we are correctly informed.

28. Cautions.-Those who have not a high instep, in other words, a good arch to the foot, will not be able to walk so long and so far as those who are gifted with a well-turned arch of their foot. The flat foot, or splay foot, does not receive the shock of the weight and force of the body in progression as favourably as the properly arched foot; and, consequently, the foot with this structure sooner feels a sense of weariness, and takes on inflammation. In the foot regiments a well-formed man in other respects would be rejected if he have a very flat foot.

Avoid getting your feet damp, and letting them remain long so.

Avoid the habit of putting them on the fender for warmth.

Avoid opening a blister, particularly before the end of your journey. It is painful at the time, and the foot gets sore afterwards. Get a needleful of silk; therewith thread the blister; leave the silk in, tying the two ends together; next morning cut off both ends with the scissors, leaving the silk in the now flattened blister undisturbed.

This is our experience; but to give the reader the benefit of the latest, we may mention that Galton, in his "Art of Travel," cordially recommends the following receipt taken from Murray's "Handbook of Swit

* There are three arches in fact to the foot, all tending to diminish shock, and to present a modifying elastic resistance to pressure.

zerland:"-" Rub the feet at going to bed with spirits mixed with tallow dropped from a candle into the palm of the hand; on the following morning no blister will exist. The spirits seem to possess the healing power, the tallow serving only to keep the skin soft and pliant. This is Captain Cochrane's advice, and the remedy was used by him in his pedestrian tour."

CHAPTER III.

ACCOUTREMENTS.

29.

E shall begin this chapter on socks, shoes,
and such like, by making another quo-
tation from "The Art," &c. "I shall,
he says, 66
now give a few hints to

those who may choose, during the summer season, to amuse themselves with pedestrian excursions through Wales, the Lakes at home, or the mountains and lakes of Switzerland, and northern Italy. Let them be careful to have stockings, or socks with woollen feet, with a reference to which their shoes should be made so as to fit well, but not tightly, allowing for the natural swelling of their own feet, consequent upon exercise. If they are troubled with corns, this caution is the more necessary. Swelled feet produce pressure. But the shoes must not be wide, for there the increased friction will always produce blisters. With these precautions, added to what has been already said, a person, even with tender feet, may walk over Europe!" The author adds, "To him who is in high health, precaution may appear unnecessary; but, in the hour of suffering, his pain will not be lessened by a vain regret at having neglected a course of practice which habit would have