One of the most remarkable things in medical science is a discovery
recently made by a Philadelphia physician When so many hundreds of years
pass over without any new discovery being made, and when one _is_ made,
like vaccination, and they are not dead sure whether it amounts to
anything or not, a new discovery that the discoverer will swear by is
a big thing. This Philadelphia doctor has discovered that rheumatism is
the direct result of cold feet.
There is no discovery that has ever been made in the human anatomy that
stands to reason any more than this. Many thousands of men are going
around crippled and bent with rheumatism, and suffering untold agonies,
and they have never known what caused their bones to ache. Of course
they knew that their wives had cold feet, but they had no idea that
every time those No. 2 icicles were placed in the small of the back to
get warm that they were sowing the seeds of rheumatism.
We presume there is a hundred pounds of male rheumatism to every square
inch of cold female foot, and the Philadelphia doctor should be thanked
by men of rheumatic tendencies as well as by women of arctic pedal
extremities for this timely discovery. There is no woman who enjoys
seeing her husband in the throes of rheumatic pains, and now that they
know that their cold feet have brought about so much suffering, we trust
they will try and lead a different life.
Of course we do not expect any woman is going to bed and leave her feet
out on the floor, or under a coal stove. This could not be expected. But
they can adopt some method to soften the rigors of a hard winter. They
can paint their feet a nice warm color or have a summer sunset painted
on the instep, or a fire-place on the bottom of their feet. Anything
that will make their feet seem warm will be a relief to their rheumatic
husbands. A pair of zinc overshoes to wear in bed would help some very
cold feet several degrees.
Men are too valuable to be crippled up with rheumatism just for the
temporary comfort they can confer upon their wives by allowing the small
of their backs to be used in lieu of a grate fire. We trust that the
cold footed portion of our female population will look at this matter in
its true light, and if necessary leave their feet in the porter's room
at bed time and get a check for them.