324 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



its shape, the heads of the femora are removed farther from the center 

 of gravity, and at the same time become rotated forward by the widen- 

 ing of the pelvis, and especially of the outlet of the pelvis. The effect 

 of these changes is to bring the knees closer together, and to produce 

 the weak-kneed condition and the awkward running gait peculiar to 

 women. This condition of the limbs is well seen in pictures and stat- 

 ues of the nude figure, and it is often exaggerated by the artist or 

 sculptor, probably to give a more distinct idea of a woman's helpless- 

 ness or modesty. The knee-cap in women looks straight forward, 

 while in men it is turned a little outward ; and in women the knees 

 touch, or even overlap each other, while in men they are quite free. 

 In running, a woman has to move the knees round each other, and to 

 throw the feet out in a succession of small semicircles, which accounts 

 for the peculiarity in her gait. This gait is not found in young girls 

 before the onset of puberty, and is useful as a diagnostic sign of pelvic 

 evolution long before the ordinary signs appear. 



Although this weak-kneed condition is quite normal, it is a fruitful 

 source of deformity in growing girls. A little additional strain will 

 convert it into knock-knee, and, by throwing the weight of the body 

 on the inner ankle, it will quickly break down the arch of the foot and 

 produce flat-foot or complete eversion of one or both feet. It is here, 

 indeed, that nearly all the mischief lies, for according to my experi- 

 ence ninety per cent of the cases of lateral curvature of the spine in 

 girls are associated with flat-foot. This deformity is exceedingly com- 

 mon among women, and a French savant recently quoted it as a proof 

 of the physical inferiority of woman to man. To a slight extent flat- 

 foot may exist in all women, as the position of the lower limbs after 

 puberty would seem to produce it, and it may be Nature's plan to pro- 

 mote what anthropologists call marriage by capture ; but to a large 

 extent, and in its worst forms, flat-foot is the result of civilization. 

 Indeed, both the highly arched instep and the everted foot are peculiar 

 to civilized peoples, and are absent from the lower races, especially 

 those who go barefoot, and both conditions owe their existence to the 

 wasting of the muscles which flex the toes and foot by the constant 

 use of tight-fitting shoes. In India, where the native workman makes 

 use of his toes with almost the same facility as his fingers, the instep 

 is obliterated by the fleshy bellies of the abductor of the great toe 

 and the short flexor of the toes, which stretch across the arch from 

 their attachment to the heel-bone. The wasting of these muscles is 

 of little importance to us who have no need to use our toes in detail ; 

 but it is far otherwise with the deep flexors of the foot and toes which 

 are attached to the leg-bones, and whose tendons pass under the ankle- 

 joint and arch of the foot and form their chief support. It is, indeed, 

 from the wasting or inaction of the deep flexor muscles, coupled with 

 the turning out of the toes which fashion has imposed upon us, that 

 the ankle and arch of the foot give way under the changed position 



