For the purpose of walking, we first bear upon one leg the weight of
the body, which pressed equally on both. The other leg is then raised,
and the foot quits the ground by rising from the heel to the point.
For that purpose, the leg must be bent upon the thigh, and the thigh
upon the pelvis: the foot is then carried straight forward, at a
sufficient height to clear the ground without grazing it. To render it
possible, however, to move this foot, the haunch, which rested with its
weight upon the thigh, must turn forward and out. As soon as, by this
movement, this foot has passed the other, it must be extended on the
leg, and the leg upon the thigh, and in this manner, by the lengthening
of the whole member, and without being drawn back, it reaches the
ground at a distance in advance of the other foot, which is more
considerable according to the length of the step, and it is placed so
softly on the ground as not to jerk or shake the body in the slightest
degree. As soon as the foot which has been placed on the ground becomes
firm, the weight of the body is transported to the limb on that side,
and the other foot, by a similar mechanism, is brought forward in its
turn. In all walking, the most important circumstance is, that the body
incline forward, and that the movement of the leg and thigh spring from
the haunch, and be free and natural. Viewed in this way, the feet have
been well compared to the spokes of a wheel: the weight of the body
falling upon them alternately.
This exercise puts in action the extensors and flexors of the thighs
and legs, a great number of the muscles of the trunk, and more or less
those of the shoulder, according to the rapidity of the pace, and
the greater or less degree of projection communicated to the arm,
which, in this exercise, acts as a balancer of the body, the motion
being exactly the reverse of that of the corresponding leg. It draws
the fluids more into the inferior than superior members: it gives
but little strength to the latter. Walking may be performed in three
different times,--slow, moderate, or quick--which somewhat modify its
action.