PALM AND SOLE STUDIES. 2OI 



first interdigital and the true thenar, are both occasionally repre- 

 sented as whorls. 



Feet. 



The study of toe patterns, doubtless owing to the universal 

 deformation of the toe-balls through shoes and stockings, has 

 scarcely been studied in this country or in Europe, but Hasebe, 

 whose countrymen universally wear clogs (geta) which protect 

 the plantar surface from the roughnesses of the soil, yet allow 

 perfectly natural freedom in walking, and encourage the habit of 

 dispensing entirely with all such artificial covering when in the 

 house, has taken advantage of the material thus provided, and 

 gives a careful report on the figures on the balls of the toes, the 

 apical patterns of the foot. He studied the toes of 100 individuals 

 (1,000 toes) and finds the distribution of whorls on the toe-balls 

 as follows: 



Right: Left: 



ist (great) .' 4 ist (great) 10 



2d 1 8 2d 13 



3d 53 3d. . 50 



4th ii 4th 12 



5th o 5th i 



Hasebe further expresses these in the form of percentages, 

 putting both feet together, as follows: 



Percentage of Whorls (both feet) : 



ist (great) 7.0 % 



2d 15-5% 



3d.. ..5-5% 



4th , n.5% 



5th .5% 



From these figures there will be seen a general similarity to the 

 condition of the fingers in respect to the occurrence of whorls, 

 except for the small percentage in the great toe when compared 

 with the thumb; yet we would expect this very difference when 

 we consider the amount of difference in the habitual action of the 

 two digits. The thumb, with its extreme flexibility, and the short 

 and rigid great toe, show, in this difference in the occurrence of 

 whorls, at least a correlation between use and morphology, of the 

 same sort as elsewhere in the friction-skin configuration. The 



