Here the weight of the body is advanced from the heel to the ball of
the foot; the toes are less turned out; and it is no longer the toe,
but the ball of the foot, which first touches and last leaves the
ground; its outer edge, or the ball of the little toe, first breaking
the descent of the foot, and its inner edge, or the ball of the great
toe, last projecting the weight--(Plate VIII. figs. 3 and 4). Thus, in
this step, less of the foot may be said actively to cover the ground;
and this adoption of nearer and stronger points of support and action
is essential to the increased quickness and exertion of the pace.
The mechanism of this pace has not been sufficiently attended to.
People pass from the march to the quick pace they know not how; and
hence all the awkwardness and embarrassment of their walk when their
pace becomes moderate, and the misery they endure when this pace
has to be performed by them, unaccompanied, up the middle of a long
and well-lighted room, where the eyes of a brilliant assembly are
exclusively directed to them. Let those who have felt this but attend
to what we have here said: the motion of the arms and of every other
part depends on it.