THE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE FEET. 397 



than a thousand steps are taken on each foot, the result would not be 

 pleasant even to imagine. 



The position of the foot is important. To turn out the toes seems 

 to me to be not only untrue to nature, but objectionable as well as 

 inelegant. Camper regarded it as incontestably the proper position. 

 For the following reasons I believe that the toes should be directed 

 forward, the inner margins of the feet parallel : It is desirable that the 

 propulsion of the body onward from, and consequent thrust backward 

 on, the foot, and especially on the great-toe, should be in the direction 

 of its length rather than obliquely across it, not only as giving a firmer 

 bearing from which to propel the body onward, but as diminishing the 

 friction on the sole and consequent tendency to foot-sore. This applies 

 also to the smaller toes in a less degree. The long axes of all the toes 

 continued backward seem to converge on the heel. By standing with 

 the bare foot and springing forward it can readily be seen how much 

 more tendency there is to slide on the sole when the foot is turned out 

 than when it is directed forward. In the latter position, too, the arch 

 is much more firmly braced up — a fact recognized by surgeons who 

 advise, in cases of flat-foot, that the toes should be directed inward 

 rather than outward. In standing, the everted position is not more 

 stable. Vf hen a body stands on four points I know of no reason why 

 it should stand more firmly if those points be unequally disposed. The 

 tendency to fall forward would seem to be even increased by widening 

 the distance between the points in front, and it is in this direction that 

 falls most commonly occur. 



Those who look on the human foot as fully partaking of the beauty 

 of which artists in every age have regarded the human body to be the 

 highest expression, ought not readily to admit that the boot which 

 best conforms to its outline, reveals its features, and expresses its lead- 

 ing characteristics, will require an apology for want of elegance. I, 

 at any rate, can not admit anything of the kind. The human foot is, 

 moreover, an object of far more than the ordinary interest belonging 

 to every part of the human structure. In the monograph already 

 mentioned I ventured to suggest that, anatomically, there is no more 

 marked distinction between man and the lower animals than is to be 

 found in the special development of the foot. 



However much we may regard it as in itself calling for admiration 

 on account of its fitness for the purposes it has to fulfill and for others 

 it may on occasion serve, the human foot is far more remarkable as an 

 adaptation of the mammalian type, modified to suit a purpose kindred 

 to but differing from that which the corresponding member supplies in 

 other animals. The heel has its special form and significance in that 

 man only has one adapted for crushing an offensive object beneath it. 

 The large size and important function of the great-toe is also a spe- 

 cially human feature. In the mammalian typical limbs the bones of 

 the hand and foot (or rather, to avoid confusion, in four-handed or four- 



