THE EVOLUTION OF THE HUMAN FOOT. 



525 



negro occupied a position intermediate between the arched foot of the 

 European and that of the gorilla, 



M. Volkov quickl}" realized that a study of the foot pursued in this 

 way would give him but meager results; without further delay he 

 immediately undertook a separate study of the different parts, bone 

 b}^ bone. We will follow him in this investigation. Still, since our 

 time is limited, I will confine m3^self to the consideration of the three 

 most important elements of the tarsus — the calcaneum, the astragalus, 

 and the scaphoid — which will enable us to clearly understand the arch 

 which gives to the human foot its mechanical perfection and what we 

 are accustomed to call its beauty. My method of procedure will be 

 as follows: After having indicated to you the architectural features 

 that characterize an adaptation to arboreal life — that is to say, the fea- 

 tures of the simian foot — and those which characterize an adaptation 

 to the biped and plantigrade method of walking — that is to say, those 

 of the human foot — I shall show 

 you in what respects the feet of 

 new-born children and of men 

 of the inferior races possess in 

 a higher degree than ours traits 

 of resemblance to the feet of 

 arboreal animals. These traits 

 of resemblance can only be ves- 

 tiges of our past, still persisting 

 in the lower ranks of our spe- 

 cies and which have disappeared 

 with us, our foot seeming to 

 have attained the maxiuuim of 

 perfection for the function it is 

 to fultill. 



Astragal UK. — The total length 

 of the astragalus is less in the climbers than in the walkers, 

 its minimum length is found among the lower races. The 

 true as regards its height. 



The most important character, however, that M. Volkov has studied 

 in the astragalus is the angle of divergence of its head. The cause of 

 this divergence, upon which it closely depends, is evidenth' the same 

 in all the pentadactylate vertebrates; it is the divergence of the first 

 cuneiform, the first metatarsal, and the great toe, which together form 

 a united whole. Now this divergenci; is, as is well known, considera- 

 ble among climbers in general, and in particular among monkeys, 

 whose feet are adapted for the function of grasping. In man, on the 

 contrary, adapted for biped locomotion, the first toe is placi^l against 

 the other toes; its mobility would impede walking, and the astragalus, 

 instead of being movable, as in the climbers, becomes the support of 



Fig. a. — Astragali arranged so as to show the angle 

 of divergence of the head (upper surface): 1, Cyno- 

 cephali. 2, Hylobates. 3, New-born European. 

 4, Negrito. 5, European adult; p, trochlea; t, head. 



In man 

 .same is 



