250 



SMALL FEET OF WOMEN, 



Chap. XIL 



swell, and be very painful, and this chiefly when 

 the feet have been carelessly bound in infancy. 

 To produce the diminution of the foot, the tarsus 

 or instep is bent on itself, the os calcis or heel-bone 

 thrown out of the horizontal position, and what 

 ought to be the posterior surface, brought to the 

 ground ; so that the ancle is, as it were, forced 

 higher up than it ought to be, producing in fact 

 artificial Talipes Calcaneus ; then the four smaller 

 toes are pressed down under the instep, and 

 checked in their growth, till at adult age all that 

 has to go into the shoe is the end of the os calcis 

 and the whole of the great toe. In a healthy con- 

 stitution this constriction of the foot may be car- 

 ried on without any very serious consequences ; 

 but in scrofulous constitutions the navicular bone, 

 and the cuneiform bone supporting the great toe, 

 are very liable, from the constant pressure and 

 irritation to which they are exposed, to become 

 diseased ; and many cases have been seen where 

 caries, softening, and even death of the bone have 

 taken place, accompanied with much suppuration 

 and great consequent suffering. Chinese women 

 have naturally very small hands and feet, but this 

 practice of binding the feet utterly destroys all 

 symmetry according to European ideas, and the 

 limping uncertain gait of the women is, to a fo- 

 reigner, distressing to see. Few of the Chinese 

 women can walk far, and they always appear to 

 feel pain when they try to walk quickly, or on 

 inieven ground. 



