Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Walking
WALKING, is one of the most salutary kinds of exercise. For this purpose, dry, airy, and elevated situations are preferable to such as are low and moist; though, during the summer, a walk in a meadow or forest, is equally agreeable and conducive to health. No woods, marshy or damp meadows, however, should be selected, particularly in autumn, when the leaves decay on the ground. In taking this exercise, it will farther be advisable to walk with a moderate pace, especially against the wind; but the practice of reading, on such occasions, is equally absurd and detrimental to the eyes; independently of the accidents that may arise from falling.
Walking is of eminent service to persons employed in sedentary occupations, and particularly to those who are confined in cities: it promotes the circulation of the blood; preserves the body in a proper temperature; facilitates the motion of the lungs; and relieves the contraction of the legs, which is occasioned by long-continued sitting. Indeed, its beneficial consequences are so obvious, that hypochondriacal and hysterical affections have often been effectually removed, by duly persevering in this wholesome exercise.
In teaching children to walk, they should on no account be placed too early on their feet, or upheld by leading-strings; as, by such practice, their weak legs frequently become bandy: not less improper and pernicious are the circular go-carts employed for this purpose by injudicious parents, who are anxious to see their infants walk, before they have acquired sufficient strength to stand. Hence it will be more prudent to place them on a soft carpet; or, (if the weather be serene, and the ground perfectly dry) on a lawn or grass-plat. In such situations, surrounded with play-things, they may creep in every direction, support themselves either by chairs or trees; and, though occasionally falling, they will speedily learn to be more cautious. It would be superfluous to enlarge on this subject, which now begins to be better understood; and, if the simple rules, on which its practice depends, were more generally followed, there would be less occasion to deplore the fate of deformed or crippled children.