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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



tions arise from lack of exercise, which invigorates the muscles and 

 oxygenizes the vital fluid. Dyspepsia is the usual attendant on such 

 conditions, and may manifest itself either by general emaciation or 

 by fatty degeneration. 



The feet demand a covering which shall conform to their shape, 

 allow them free play, and afford protection from injuries.* Dowie 

 scoffingly remarks, in his treatise, respecting shoes so cut at the toes 

 as to represent the foot like that of a goose, with the great-toe in the 

 middle. We are now in an era of " pencil-toed " shoes, so called, 

 which recall Dowie's comparison. It is difficult to understand how 

 shoemakers can be so careless of the shape of the feet and their needs 

 as to cut shoes that in the toe are the very reverse of what toes de- 

 mand ; but it is more difficult to conceive how any one can endure the 

 suffering they inflict. Dowie insists that tight-toed stockings are in- 

 jurious to the feet, and recommends that they be woven with a sepa- 

 rate covering for each toe, as gloves are made with fingers. 



Fig. 1 is a foot copied from the antique, and shows "beauty of 

 form and proportion, ease and elasticity of motion, as well as an ad- 

 mirable expression of adaptation and power for use throughout." 



Fig. 2 shows the distorted foot of a Chinese woman, photographed 

 from nature. 



Fig. 3 represents the sole of a normal human foot. The dotted 

 line shows how the foot is usually cramped in the shoe-sole. The heel 

 of the foot is narrow, the anterior portion broad, the toes are nearly 

 parallel to a line " C," drawn through the center of the sole from beel 

 to toe. The line A B is drawn through the center of the instep, or 

 great arch of the foot, and bisects the great-toe. It is this arch which 

 mainly supports the weight of the body ; the heel forms one of its 



Fig. 3. 



piers, the great-toe the other. One may easily see that when the 

 great-toe is drawn from its line with the arch, as indicated by the 

 dotted lines, the stability of the body is by so much destroyed ; and 

 when the heel is taken from its level with the bulk of the foot, by a 

 high heel, yet more is the stability of the body destroyed. Erichson 

 says : " Firmness of gait is caused by the foot resting on the heel be- 



* The Indian moccasin is probably the easiest and most comfortable foot-covering 

 worn, as it adapts itself perfectly to the shape and motion of the foot. 



