256 First and Second Toes in Man 



The paper circularised probably contains one error, viz. the statement 

 that "the second toe is frequently not flat owing to pressure of boots." 

 That was the idea held when the work was started, but it is not 

 supported by observations on the naked feet of children and adults. It 

 seems probable that the first toe is the only one which is flat in repose, 

 the flexed position being the normal one for the others, which flatten 

 out only when in use. The wearing of boots with a stiff sole has much 

 reduced the use of the toes, so that the tendency is for them to remain 

 in a flexed position, with possibly a consequent small degeneration of 

 the toe muscles. These observations bear a certain relation to those of 

 Pfitzner (1902) on the degeneration of the little or fifth toe. (Plate XXI, 

 Right foot of Fig. iii a). 



As a rule, boots are too narrow for our feet, and there is therefore a 

 lateral pressure which compresses the toes together : but boots are very 

 rarely too short, at any rate among the middle classes, fi'om whose feet 

 these toe-tracings were principally made. The curled up second toe 

 cannot therefore be accounted for as a result of foot-gear, especially as 

 the majority have the first toe longest, and that, because of its very 

 bulk, determines the length of the boot. The chief deformities are due 

 to the unnatural curve of the inner margin of the boot, which presses 

 the great toe outwards and then consequently produces an enlarged 

 joint. There is a considerable difference in deformity between the feet 

 of men and women (Plate XIX, I, ii), the boots of women being by far the 

 less natural. It is just this lateral displacement that makes the difficulty 

 in judging the living foot and the tracings. Indeed, the toe- type of 

 the tracings can only be determined accurately after an examination of 

 a considerable number of feet, the experience with the living foot acting 

 as a guide in determining the character of the tracings. 



Both 8 and L types of feet occur among races which have never 

 worn any foot-covering, so that neither the one nor the other type of 

 toe can be exclusively due to the effects of foot-gear. Flower (1881) 

 gives some very bad cases of deformed feet but I have not met any foot 

 whose toes could not be arranged flat except in the case of congenital 

 hammer toe. The few persons who had this deformed condition were 

 not enumerated. 



In passing, one may note that Park Harrison (1888) states that the 

 third toe is never longer than the second, but this is certainly not the 

 case as I have found it so in 19 persons. Weissenberg (1895) says 

 " the third toe longer than the second may be hereditary or due to bad 

 boots." How such a condition could arise from the latter cause is 



