ON PEOPLE CLOTHING. 
347 
lias compelled mankind in all ages to submit to tbe suf- 
ferings inflicted by fashion. Boots and shoes have been made 
of every form almost, save that of the human foot, and the 
consequence has been the production of painful diseases on 
the surface of the foot, and a distortion of its bones and 
muscles. This is not a mere assertion. Let any one take a 
model of the feet of the beautiful Grecian statues, and compare 
it with the model of a living foot- — the foot of the Medicean 
Venus for instance, with that of a modern belle, or the foot of 
Hercules with that of one of our labourers or soldiers. It will 
at once be seen how terribly our unthinking and unnatural 
way of dressing the foot has worked against its primitive 
beauty and strength. That a shoe made of leather should fit 
the foot, would seem a proposition to which every one would 
assent, yet the assertion may be safely made, that not one 
shoe out of ten thousand made by modern shoemakers fits the 
foot at all. By dint of custom, like the Chinese women, we 
manage to submit, without complaining, to the vulgar 
caricatures of the form of the foot, which characterize our 
modern boots and shoes. 
Nor is this compression, which produces corns and bunions, 
chilblains, ulcerations between the toes, and loss of the nails, 
the only fault to be found with modern shoes. The Creator 
has made this part of the human sole flat, but the shoemaker 
has discovered that the foot of the gorilla and chimpanzee, 
which compels them to walk on their toes, is more elegant. 
They accordingly exalt the heel by an extra piece of leather on 
the sole, and thus give to the human figure a monkey-like 
gait. If our young women knew how they are distorting their 
appearance by this practice, surely they would give up wearing 
high-heeled boots.* 
But we must leave the subject of compression to say a few 
words on other abuses of dress. Fashion and indolence have 
brought on an evil which ought to be avoided, and this is the 
insufficient clothing of young females and children. The 
fashion of exposing the neck and shoulders in women has 
undoubtedly led to serious evils. The cooling down of the 
whole body thus produced is more than the circulating system 
can bear, and congestion of the lungs and the great vascular 
organs in the interior of the body is the result. It is too often 
the case that this system of dressing engenders a susceptibility 
to slight draughts, which, being prevented, more serious 
* Those who do not consider the health and comfort of their bodies as too 
insignificant for attention, will do well to consult on this subject, Mr. 
Humphreys’ book on the “ Structure of the Foot and Hand,” and Mr. 
Dowie’s book on the “Foot and its Coverings.” 
