258 MR. COOPER'S ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF 



cumstance worthy of notice. The dorsum rises with an unusual convexity, not 

 only from behind forward, but also from side to side : it affords a distinct pro- 

 tuberance situated just before the external malleolus, and above the outer ex- 

 tremity of the cleft in the sole, which is here very conspicuous ; anterior to this 

 eminence, the dorsum presents a plane surface facing outwai'ds, till it slopes 

 off rapidly beneath where the toes are turned under the sole. There is but a 

 trifling alteration in the aspect of the inner surface of the dorsum ; this side of 

 the foot having undergone but little distoi'tion : but the manner in which the 

 dorsum is united with the great toe deserves yet to be particularly noticed. A 

 considerable angle distinguishes their point of junction, resulting from the 

 dent or hollow, which the abrupt direction of the great toe upwards and for- 

 wards produces upon that surface. In this view we have the dorsum of the 

 great toe with its aspect directly upwards ; whilst the inner surface of the first 

 phalanx of the second toe has its dorsum turned outwards. Only a small por- 

 tion of the inner surface of the third toe can be perceived in this view, whilst 

 the remaining toes are buried beneath the foot. Posteriorly there is little to 

 remark, beyond the extreme shortness of the heel, which is not flatter, but 

 wider than in the natural condition. 



The integuments covering the heel are unusually dense, hard, and resisting, 

 and the cuticle is of a remarkable thickness. The subcutaneous structure re- 

 sembles rather the fatty sole of a horse's foot tlian any human tissue. The skin 

 which covers the rest of the sole presents a corrugated appearance, and is 

 somewhat thicker than in an ordinary foot • but in those places where it had 

 been defended from external pressure by the intervention of the toes, which 

 passed under it, it does not deviate from the natural construction. 



On the dorsum, the integuments offer nothing unusual : unless it be that the 

 nail of the great toe, as might be anticipated from constant compression, is 

 rendered particularly convex from side to side. 



The other nails are not visible in this aspect of the foot. 



The tendons do not appear to have undergone any change, further than as 

 their direction depended upon the altered position of the bones. 



It is however in the skeleton of the foot that we observe the greatest changes 

 produced by art. The powerful effect of long continued pressure over the 

 direction even of the bones is here very striking. 



