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CHAP. XIV.] exercise, and the reason of this will be apparent after reading the next few pages.

Anæmia is a very prevalent disease among English ladies also, and the same cause is probably in action here to a considerable extent. It is only natural that when progression is so painful, as I know it to be in fashionable boots or shoes, people should prefer to remain at home in an easy chair or on a sofa, or at best to be driven out rather than walk even a short way. They do not, perhaps, recognize the reason of their disinclination for exercise, but think that it is natural for walking to be so very tiresome. It is time, however, that there should no longer be any mistake on that point. More than half the troubles of life are produced by the sufferers for themselves, and the troubles caused by improper boots are some of these.

The neglect which has been the fate of our "poor feet" is one of the most extraordinary facts in civilization. The evils of improper foot-coverings have been pointed out again and again, but for centuries past little advance has been made in this respect. The ancients were by no means free from troubles produced by ill-made shoes and sandals; and, indeed, Socrates, like a true philosopher as he was, preferred to go barefoot rather than wear the fashionable foot-dress of his time, the diseases and deformities produced by which have been described by Celsus and others.

Changes of fashion as regards boots and shoes have been many, but the changes have been almost