DISEASES FROM FAULTY CONFOEMATION 187 



laudable idea of relieving pressure on the part diseased. 

 After what has gone before, we need hardly say that their 

 well-meant efforts have a precisely opposite effect to the 

 one they intend. 



The fitting of the shoe is, perhaps, to a greater extent 

 responsible for the causation of corn than is the paring we 

 have just described. 



A few of the evils connected with the shoe may, however, 

 be justly described as unavoidable. We must shoe ; we 

 cannot shoe and leave a normal foot ! 



A shoe excessively seated, especially from the last nail- 

 hole backwards, may be regarded as dangerous. In this 

 case, with every application of the body-weight, there is 

 given to the foot a tendency to contract, especially at its 

 lower margin. Result : undue pressure upon the tissues 

 around and the production of corn. 



On the other hand, varying with the form of foot, the 

 seating may be insufficient. In the case of flat-foot, or 

 dropped sole, for instance, insufficient seating will lead to 

 undue pressure of the web of the shoe upon the sole, and 

 in that way bring about bruising of the sensitive sole 

 beneath. 



Shoes with heels or calks too high, by destroying the 

 counter-pressure of the frog with the ground, serve to bring 

 about a series of changes we have described under contrac- 

 tion, and again result in pinching and bruising of the sensi- 

 tive structures. 



The opposite excess — a shoe thick at the toe and thin at 

 the heels — is blamed by Zundel for causing a like injury. 

 In our opinion, the reason this author gives — ^namely, that 

 the throwing of greater weight upon the heels leads to 

 bruising of the sensitive structures — can only correctly 

 apply to a ivrongly-applied shoe of this type, and not to the 

 shoe itself. True, a shoe with a thick toe and thinned 

 heels will throw an undue proportion of the body-weight 

 upon the heels if the foot is not properly prepared for it. 

 A wise man, however, will most certainly so cut down the 

 toe for the reception of this shoe that, with the shoe in 



