258 Flr^t ((11(1 Si'ctnid Toes in 3Ian 



character longer than tlie male. These results by n(( means agree with 

 the observations of Braiiiie (1*^84), who stated that the second toe was 

 always the longest in the embryo. Volker (1905) supports this conten- 

 tion when he writes that, " in all its elements as well as in its pnsition, 

 the foot of the new-born chilil is analogous with that of the monkey." 

 P. Harrison (18JS3) examined the iWt of fifteen foetuses (8 male and 

 7 female) and found them to be 11 L, S E, I S. He does not state 

 the ages or the relation of the type to the sex. It would be valuable 

 to have radiographs of foetal feet and babies' feet at intervals from the 

 sixth foetal month to the age of two, thus showing the change from the 

 foetal to the adult condition. 



The result of the examination of 1+ foetal skeletons is shown in 

 Table IV, from which it appears that there was not one L type. 'J'his 

 result is probably incorrect as 11 of the 14 are over six months old. 

 The error is probably due to the difficulty of preparing and mounting a 

 foetal skeletal foot, for, to get accurate resiilts as regai'ds the n.'lative 

 h'ngths of the toes, it would be nfce.s.sary to retain the foot in the flexed 

 position and certainly not to place it fiat on the ground. 



TABLE IV. 



Skeletons of Foetuses. 



III. The Relation of the Toe-types to the Anatomy of the Foot. 



There has been considerable diversity of opinion as to whether type 

 L or >S' was the more common. Thus, in the plates of Vesalius' anatomy 

 (1543) the second toe is generally represented as the longer, but in one 

 diagram, the two feet (litter. Unfortunately it is impossible to state 

 how far these diagrams are conventional or actually represent Italian 

 conditions. Passing on to the " Anthropologia Xova " of Drake in 1707, 

 one finds the woman of Table XXI and the man of Table XXII both 



