EM QUAD.
179. Bootikins.
—Horace Walpole speaks in many of his letters of the great benefit he had experienced from the use of bootikins in his attacks of gout. In a letter to George Montagu, Esq., dated July 31, 1767, he says:
"Except one day's gout, which I cured with the bootikins, I have been quite well since I saw you."
Eight years afterwards his expectations of cure from them were not so high. In a letter to the Rev. Mr. Cole, dated June 5, 1775, he remarks:
"I am perfectly well, and expect to be so for a year and a half. I desire no more of my bootikins than to curtail my fits."
Dr. E. J. Seymour (Thoughts on the Nature and Treatment of several severe Diseases of the Human Body, i. 107.: London, 1847), says that—
"The bootikins were simply a glove, with a partition for the thumb, but no separate ones for the fingers, like an infant's glove, made of oiled silk."
Can any of your readers shed light on this matter?
R. D.