204 



NATURE 



[May io, 19 17 



pansion, together with the efficiencies of each 

 conversion of energy, are very good, as is also the 

 short third chapter on indicator diagrams. In 

 ..the fourth chapter, on air-compressors, exception 

 may perhaps be taken that reciprocating air- 

 compressors have been described under the names 

 of firms which make them, rather than under 

 headings derived from differences of design, 

 though, otherwise, the description of these com- 

 pressors is good, as is also that of the turbo- 

 compressors in chap. v. In the sixth chapter, 

 devoted to the transmission of compressed air, 

 there is but little discussion of the principles of 

 loss of pressure by friction, the author in this 

 matter relying on Peele's well-known book. 

 Coming, in the eighth chapter, to the machines 

 making use of compressed air, coal-cutting 

 machines first receive attention, and the principal 

 machines employed in Great Britain are described. 

 The description of rock-drills in chap. x. is 

 accomplished chiefly under the names of firms 

 making these drills, which is not an interesting 

 procedure from a technical point of view. Men- 

 tion is made of the use of compressed air in haul- 

 age and conveying, while in the twelfth and final 

 chapter the transmission of power by compressed 

 air is compared with that by electricity. In this 

 it IS stated that the cost of generating compressed 

 air compares favourably with that of generating 

 electricity, a statement with which few will agree. 

 The book in its later parts is disappointing and 

 does not bear out the promise of its early chap- 

 ters, so that, altogether, it does not do justice to 

 its title. Within these limitations, it is, how- 

 ever, clearly written, while the assistance in 

 elucidation which a number of worked problems 

 give is a commendable feature. 



Bill's School and Mine. A Collection of Essays 

 on Education. By W. S. Franklin. Second 

 edition. Pp. 102. (South Bethlehem, Penn- 

 sylvania : Franklin, MacNutt, and Charles, 

 1917.) Price I dollar. 



The new edition of Prof. Franklin's brightly 

 written essays, with their advocacy of education 

 in the " Land of Out-of-Doors " and of the claims 

 of sensible science to a prominent place in school 

 curricula, is enriched by a new essay on " Educa- 

 tion after the War." In this paper he deals 

 effectively with the unfriendliness towards science 

 teaching prevalent in certain influential circles. 

 Science, he urges, is finding out and learning 

 how, whereas most people think of it only in 

 terms of its material results. To quote Prof. 

 Franklin : " It is now as much a mistake to 

 oppose the fullest and widest possible develop- 

 ment of Finding Out and Learning How as it 

 was years ago to oppose labour-saving 

 machinery; only it is quite necessary to make 

 readjustments for the conservation of character 

 and morals — and physique ! Indeed, this neces- 

 sity has shown itself most distinctly in our re- 

 luctance to make just such readjustments among 

 those whose labour has been so wonderfully 

 * saved ' by machinery ! " 



NO. 2480, VOL. 99] 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for 

 opinions expressed by his correspondents. Neither 

 can he undertake to return, or to correspond with 

 the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for 

 this or any other part of Nature. No notice is 

 taken of anonymous communications.] 



Flat-foot in Young Women. 



This deformity is exceedingly common among the 

 young women of our nation, and it is not for lack 

 of opportunity that it is studied so little. The present 

 fashion of short skirts presents to us now an excep- 

 tional chance of finding out the extent of this eviL 

 If the short skirt ae destined to be permanent, it will 

 be ■ unique among the numerous fashions of women. 

 The chance is here and now, and may not return. 



Among certain negro races flat-foot appears to be 

 normal, and in them perhaps it is an adaptation and 

 a feature of their evolution. It is not so among us, 

 and cannot be classed among the variations which 

 are studied by biometricians. 



Impressed by the sight of so many flat feet which 

 young women are exhibiting below their short skirts, 

 I made an observation of 355 persons of about the 

 age of fifteen to forty-five, and noted the proportion 

 of flat feet to normal ankles and feet, and I found 251 

 with definite signs of this defect. This j-epresents a 

 serious disability in this group for active life in the 

 strenuous days to come, all the more because the 

 persons noted belonged to the more favoured classes, 

 living in a large and prosperous town. In addition to 

 these, I noted about 200 more cases, which can only 

 be classed as "borderland cases," and further investi- 

 gation convinces me that there are more than 70 per 

 cent, of our younger women and girls thus hindered 

 from full locomotive and mental activity. 



There are two main reasons why this deformity is 

 imf>ortant — first, that it is ugly and produces an un- 

 gainly gait ; secondly, that walking and standing are 

 rendered painful by it, and therefore unduly exhausting 

 to the nervous system. I venture to say that if the 

 attention of Mr. Fisher and the Board of Education 

 were directed to Prof. Keith's valuable booklet, "The 

 Human Body," they would not be long in doubt that 

 flat-foot in girls is a pressing matter for them to 

 consider, while they can. Prof. Keith points out that 

 in all joints, except the knee-joint, the bones are kept 

 in apposition by muscles and not by ligaments, that 

 the arch of the foot is maintained by the steady and 

 continuous reflex action of muscles, that the act of 

 standing is an extremely complex act involving many 

 muscles, and that all the time messages are passing 

 from these to the centres in the spinal cord, from 

 which other messages are being issued to co-ordinate 

 the muscles in their action — a state of things well 

 calculated to add much to the exhaustion of nervous 

 centres when carried on with broken-down arches of 

 the feet. 



The series of cases I have described here is too 

 small for any generalisation, but it is worthy of the 

 notice of education authorities and their expert ad- 

 visers. It is not a matter for investigation only by- 

 medical men. They are chiefly called upon to treat 

 the deformity when it has come to a painful and 

 gross form, and the clinical method of examination, 

 with the foot raised, or even observation of the bare 

 foot in standing, is not enough for the discovery of 

 the slighter degrees of it. It needs to be observed 

 from behind when the person is walking, so that the 

 full degree of working defect may be known. 



