CHAPTER XIV.
THE FEET AND HOW TO CLOTHE THEM.
THE subject of clothing for the feet is one of very great importance, both directly and indirectly, as affecting the comfort and health of the individual and the well-being of the nation. Ill-formed boots and shoes are not only the cause of direct suffering to the wearer, but they also indirectly lead to the impairment of his or her health by rendering exercise painful, and thus hindering the development of the muscular system and robbing the lungs and the blood of the fresh air so needful to their proper action. For, as owing to want of out-door exercise the lungs are badly supplied with air, the circulation becomes sluggish, the blood is insufficiently supplied with oxygen and the processes of nutrition are impaired.
It is said by competent authorities that a potent cause of anæmia, a disease characterized by pallor owing to a deficiency of red corpuscles in the blood, among Chinese women is the cramped state of their feet, which prevents them from taking proper
