Why to touch the feet of elders

It is plain that the Sciences of Electricity and Magnetism were not only extensively cultivated by the Ancient Hindus, but also highly developed, and the principles applied in their practical daily life. As other instances of their advanced knowledge of the Sciences, we find that iron or copper rods are inserted at the tops of all temples that Mindulies (Metallic cells) made of either gold, silver or iron are worn on the diseased parts of the body, and that Asanas or seats made of either silk, wool, kusha grass, or hairy skins of the deer or tiger are used when saying prayers. The function of the rod at the top of the temple is the same as that of the modern lightening conductor. The Mindulies serve the same purpose as the electrical belts and other appliances of the present day electrical treatment of diseases. The woolen and skin asanas protect our lives during a thunderstorm. So do the wooden sandals or mithiyadi worn by the sanyasis of old.
For the same simple reasons described above, it is the age long custom among Hindus that younger people should prostrate before the elders and touch their feet with their head so as to acquire magnetic energy and more particularly before the saintly persons, as these saints had magnetized their system by their Tapasya, i.e., by observance of Brahmacharya (celibacy), conducting Poojas, by practice of Yoga Asanas, Pranayamas and meditation, and by austere observances and various spiritual practices.