FOOT 



2253 



FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE 



forms an important service in making the gait 

 easy and graceful. 



In the act of walking, the foot, as it receives 

 the weight of the body, broadens a little and 



THE FOOT 



(a) Phalanges (c) Tarsals 



(ft) Metatarsals (d) Astragalus 



In the second Illustration the white lines indi- 

 cate extensor muscles. 



also lengthens, perhaps a half-inch. The prac- 

 tice of wearing tight shoes, which interfere 

 with this natural expansion, is therefore un- 

 hygienic. The discomfort occasioned by shoes 

 that pinch the feet is well known. Unsightly 

 and painful bunions on the side joint are 

 caused by wearing shoes that are too short; 

 when the toes are crowded against each other 

 in too-narrow shoes corns and ingrowing toe- 

 nails result. Broad, low heels that furnish a 

 firm support should be chosen in preference 

 to high heels that throw the feet forward to- 

 ward the ends of the shoes, and tend to flatten 

 down the arch of the foot. 



It is interesting to compare the powers of the 

 human hand and foot. The toes, except in 

 special instances, are quite inferior to the fin- 

 gers in flexibility and dexterity, because they 

 are not called upon to perform such a variety 

 of movements. This difference is especially 

 noticeable in the case of the thumb and great 

 toe. With the thumb we can touch each of 

 the fingers with perfect ease, but the great toe 

 can be moved only a little way in each direc- 

 tion. Savages who have never worn shoes, 

 and apes, whose four limbs are about equally 

 exercised, differ from civilized man in having a 

 more flexible great toe. 



The toes can be educated to perform some 

 acts ordinarily performed by the fingers. Many 



persons born without hands or deprived of 

 them by accident have learned to write, paint 

 and carry on many other activities with their 

 feet. S.C.B. 



FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE, a contagious 

 and rapidly-spreading fever occurring chiefly in 

 cattle, sheep and pigs, but which may be con' 

 tracted by human beings. It is characterized 

 by blisters, which first break out in the mouth 

 but later may appear on the feet. It first 

 occurred in England in 1839, and did not ap- 

 pear in America until 1870. 



No certain microbe has been found which 

 causes it, but it is known to be brought about 

 by direct contact, infected feed, contaminated 

 stables and even by birds carrying the disease 

 to considerable distances. Probably it is most 

 commonly contracted through the mouth by 

 eating contaminated hay as feed and by feeding 

 in pastures where cattle already sick have been 

 kept. 



The disease breaks out somewhat mys- 

 teriously, not following any certain rule or 

 limiting itself to any one locality or country. 

 Thus outbreaks occurred in 1880 and 1884, 

 followed by complete disappearance until 1902. 

 Then again it was stamped out and was not 

 heard of after that until 1908, when an out- 

 break occurred in Michigan and spread to 

 New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland. By 

 that year the "scourge of Europe," as it was 

 called, was looked upon as a serious affair; 

 therefore the government and states involved 

 ordered all infected herds bought, killed and 

 buried in quicklime, and the locations were 

 quarantined for three months afterwards. These 

 measures were successful. In 1914 the disease 

 reappeared, involving twenty-two states and 

 the District of Columbia, but within a year 

 all were free from it except Illinois, where it 

 persisted a year longer. The method employed 

 was to kill, bury in lime, and to quarantine; 

 this has cost thousands and thousands of dol- 

 lars, but it is considered by experts better than 

 halfway measures, which, because they do not 

 eradicate the disease, would eventually cost 

 millions of dollars in losses of stock. 



Symptoms. The period of incubation is 

 usually from three days to one week. The 

 early symptoms are smacking of the lips and 

 drooling, preceded by fever. The animal shows 

 a disinclination to move and when in motion 

 walks "stiff." In about two days the char- 

 acteristic blisters can be seen in the mouth, 

 on the inner side of the lips and on the edges 

 and tip of the tongue. The animal drops saliva 



