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 outwards, 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 distortion : 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 than 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. 
