BODILY DEFORMITIES IN GIRLHOOD. 



325 



of the limbs in girls at puberty, which I have described ; and what is 

 remarkable, and not easily explained, the deformity generally occurs 

 only in one foot, or is greater in one than in the other. In this way, 

 however, the legs become of unequal length, and we have obliquity of 



The diagram shows the relation of the brim of the pelvis in the child, at puberty, and in the adult 

 female, from moasurements of pelves in the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. The 

 want of parallelism of the two inner pelvic curves shows that in the change from the infantile 

 to the female type evolution takes place chiefly behind, and that the legs must be rotated for- 

 ward and inward. The dimensions are Child : breadth, 83 mm.; length, 73; index, 114. 

 Young female : breadth, 112 mm. ; length, 85 ; index, 132. Adult female : breadth, 143 mm. ; 

 length, 108 ; index, 132. The indices of the young female and the adult are the same, but the 

 bones of the former are not united together. 



the pelvis, and consequently lateral curvature of the spine to correct 

 the balance of the body, and bring the head and shoulders into the 

 line of the center of gravity. Flat-foot also produces, or exaggerates, 

 the natural disposition to knock-knee in girls, which, in its turn, adds 

 to the inequality in the length of the two legs. Some observations 

 recently made in America show that even in adults of both sexes the 

 two legs are rarely of equal length, and there must be, therefore, 

 slight lateral curvature in all persons, and it is probable that these 

 natural curves become exaggerated, as in the development of round 

 shoulder the large antero-posterior curves of the spine are exaggerated. 

 It is to the wasting or non-development of the fleshy parts of the deep 

 flexors of the toes or foot that Europeans owe the small ankle and the 

 comparatively large calf of which they are so proud as distinguishing 

 them from the lower races. It is a distinction, however, which is more 

 than counterbalanced by the ugliness and inconvenience of flat-foot, to 

 which it frequently gives rise. The ingenuity of an Edison could not 

 devise a machine so favorable to the production of flat-foot as the tight- 

 fitting, high-heeled, long-topped boot at present worn by girls. Not only 

 does the rigidity of the front part cramp the action of the muscles, but 

 the high heels place the foot at such an angle with the leg that the 

 tendons are of least use in supporting the ankle-joint, and the long 

 tops hamper the development of the muscles in the remainder of their 

 course. The high heels, moreover, push the center of gravity forward 

 on the arch of the foot, and by propping up the heel gives greater lev- 



