One thing I do love about Germany — and the Czech Republic and  Poland (I think I did three posts on apothecaries after visiting Krakow?) — are the way that apothecaries are still everywhere. I know we have pharmacists, but it’s just not the same, is it? But there are also the old signs, the nods back to the glory days with dark, battered wooden shelves full of gleaming bottles and herbs drying from the ceiling, powdered minerals and bits of dried bat and crocodile. Though I do love bats, and prefer them alive. A number also harken back to the superior medical knowledge of the moors — and so I am simultaneously appreciative of that and horrified by the racism inherent in the old figures.

Still, we only saw one of them in Nuremberg. This was by far my favourite:

I loved most the rules for health from the turn of the last century:

I have copied them all for you from the website: Counsellor Eckart’s golden rules of health for a prudent lifestyle — but let me highlight my favourite:

Do not dress according to fashion, but rather in tune with the weather. Keep your feet and lower body warm. In snowy, freezing weather, thin tights and shoes are a crime against your health.

I have been thinking that to myself all winter looking at our freezing youth with their strange fashionable dislike of socks.

They are incredibly Victorian, and feel they could have as likely appeared in England or the East Coast of the US. Fresh air, cold water, not too much comfort, not too much good food, and you can imagine no whinging about all of that. I’ve been thinking about health a lot lately, and this kind of framework for how we imagine good living still seems to lurk a great deal in the background.

The golden rules of health from Carl Ludwig Ernst Eckart (1830 – 1911)

Do not burn the candle at both ends: sleep before midnight is of more worth than after sunrise.

Rest your body and nerves. This does not happen when partaking of entertainment or on the dance floor, but rather in God’s free, natural world. Keep the Sunday as a holy day, as it has been designated for our rest.

Pay attention to your daily bowel movement! It is better to eat too little than too much, and to leave the stomach time to digest. A lot of meat and strong spices make the blood heavy and hot; live on a simple and mixed diet and do not reject our natural beverage: fresh water.

Do not load up your stomach in the evening with foods which are hard to digest, and which cause restless sleep and troubled dreams. Leave yourself time to eat, so that your nutrition can be processed more efficiently.

Do not cover yourself with heavy, full bedclothes; your mattress should rather be too hard than too soft.

Do not dress according to fashion, but rather in tune with the weather. Keep your feet and lower body warm. In snowy, freezing weather, thin tights and shoes are a crime against your health.

Fresh air has never hurt anyone; therefore ventilate your rooms well and leave a window open at night. Breathe in deeply, but shut your mouth when walking in the street in windy, dusty conditions; breathing through your nose will suffice.

Get your children used to the frequent use of water. Cold water improves resilience. Keeping your mouth and teeth clean will help to prevent infections.

Always remember that our health is our most precious possession, and do not first start to live prudently when it is too late.