42 Trans. Acad. Sct. of St. Louis 
the like. Flat feet from broken arches form another illus- 
tration. The condition results in muscular strain and 
pain in the legs, thighs and back. Ill posed feet throw 
the entire figure out of balance. One cannot begin to 
adequately accentuate the importance of these things, 
and to sufficiently urge the necessity for bodily care, 
not through straining athletics in youth, but through 
moderation and well considered exercise, rest, proper 
nutrition, and proper clothes, the most important fea- 
ture of which is footwear. 
To retrogress: One feature that led to the previous 
assumption of falling viscera, displaced stomachs and 
the like, as a symptomful disease, was this problem of 
bad statics. Stomachs of low position may be considered 
abnormal in this that they often tend to throw the body 
out of balance and consequently there is generally relief 
afforded by proper corseting and support; not through 
elevating the stomach itself, but by thus taking unnat- 
ural weight and strain off of the incapacitated and over- 
burdened back. 
There is no question but that we have made consider- 
able strides in medicine, even though we are in no posi- 
tion to, in any manner, pat ourselves on the back. We 
have made but a start; we have come to properly appre- 
ciate our ignorance, and let me recall that there are as 
bright minds in medicine as there are in any other line 
of work. We are learning to care for ourselves and to 
successfully combat many diseases. What does the 
future hold for our descendants in the centuries to 
come? The obvious view would be that of a highly 
beneficient situation, in which the cure of each disease 
would be readily available and in which hygienics, 
rational diet and proper living generally, became uni- 
versal practices to an altogether happy ending. Not to 
