Transcriber’s Note
Italic text displayed as: _italic_
DRESS AND CARE
OF
THE FEET;
SHOWING
THEIR NATURAL SHAPE AND CONSTRUCTION; THEIR
USUAL DISTORTED CONDITION; HOW CORNS, BUNIONS,
FLAT FEET, AND OTHER DEFORMITIES ARE CAUSED,
WITH INSTRUCTIONS FOR THEIR PREVENTION
OR CURE.
ALSO,
DIRECTIONS FOR DRESSING THE FEET WITH COMFORT
AND ELEGANCE, AND MANY USEFUL HINTS TO
THOSE WHO WEAR, AS WELL AS THOSE WHO
MAKE FOOT-COVERINGS.
_ILLUSTRATED._
LONDON: WILLIAM TEGG.
1872.
PREFACE.
The object of this little treatise is to bring before the popular
attention some ideas concerning the feet that are not generally
familiar; to exhibit the producing causes of the common deformities
and discomforts to which they are subject; to show the best means of
preserving their natural shape and condition, or of restoring it as
far as possible when lost; and to suggest better methods for their
dress and general treatment, in order to their more perfect health,
beauty, and performance of function.
The subject has already received some little attention. Some time
about the beginning of the present century Dr. Peter Camper, of
Amsterdam—a distinguished man of his time—wrote a short dissertation
upon the “Best Form of Shoe,” which was eventually translated and
published in England in 1861, in connection with a larger work by Mr.
James Dowie. Dr. Camper’s essay was excellent as a first effort in
this direction, furnishing some ideas upon the form of the foot and
the defect of its covering, which still remain hardly less just and
appropriate. Mr. Dowie added some good suggestions, and faithfully
exposed the faults of the foot-gear worn by the British army and the
humbler classes; but a considerable portion of his book was taken up
in the explanation and advocacy of elasticated leather—an article
of his own invention—while the whole was written in a style too
difficult to be generally read.
Another work published in England was the “Book of the Feet,” by
J. Sparkes Hall, issued a few years previous to that of Mr. Dowie.
Though very interesting as a concise _history_ of the shoemaking art,
it touched but slightly upon those abuses of the feet with which
shoemaking is connected.
But a late essay directly upon the subject, by Prof. Hermann Meyer,
of Zurich, Switzerland, has a value superior in this respect to that
of all the preceding ones.
The present writer has intended to include all the important ideas
of previous writers on the subject, together with such information
as could be gathered from medical and other works, but going farther
and adding such original notions as the observation and thought of
his own mind could supply, with the purpose of making the whole as
thorough and complete as possible, both from the point of view of the
_physiologist_ and that of the practical _shoemaker_.
The book is not written in the dignified style of a professor, nor
with literary correctness; but it is hoped the ideas contained,
and the nature of the subject-matter, will make it readable. It is
addressed to those who desire comfort for their feet, and no less to
those who wish to see them handsome in form and tastefully dressed.
As first prepared, the matter, under a different title, was printed
in a trade journal—the _Shoe and Leather Reporter_—in 1868, since
which a careful revision has improved and adapted it for its present
form.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
INTRODUCTORY 1
CHAPTER II.
Natural Position of the Toes—Anatomical Argument—Correspondence
of Foot and Hand—Necessity of Freedom for the Toes—Criticism on
Forms of Sole 6
CHAPTER III.
Distortion of the Toes and Joint—Various Causes—Want
of Harmony between Shape of Foot and
Shape of Shoe—Grown-in-Nails—Influence of
Stockings, Narrow-Toed Soles, High Heels, and
Changing of Shoes—Faults of Lasts 17
CHAPTER IV.
Prevention of Deformed Toes and Joint—New
Forms of Sole—Eureka Last—True Standard
of Taste—How Distorted Great Toe may be
Straightened—Ancient and Medieval Foot-apparel—Suggestions 36
CHAPTER V.
Flattened Condition, of the Arch—Beauty of One
that is Natural—Nature and Purpose of its Construction—How
it becomes Broken Down—Lengthening
of the Foot—Lack of Development—Means
of Improvement—Lasts for Flat Feet—Transverse
Arch 61
CHAPTER VI.
Natural Character of the Instep—Causes, and Prevention,
of Sores upon it—False Taste—Callosities
of the Heel—Counters—Criticism of Lasts 87
CHAPTER VII.
_Inclinations_ of the Feet—How to Make them tread
Squarely—Peculiar Lasts—Weak Ankles—Cultivation
of Muscle—Turning-in of the Toes 100
CHAPTER VIII.
Corns, Bunions, and Callosities—How they Originate—Nature
of the Skin—Various Causes of
Corns—How to Remove them—Quotations from
the Medical Books—Nature and Treatment of
Bunions 110
CHAPTER IX.
Recapitulation—Lasts for Individual Feet—Possibility
of all Feet being Well Fitted in their
Clothing—Ease and Grace of Movement—A Last
Word for Children 128
CHAPTER X.
Miscellaneous—Criticism of Different Forms and
Fashions—Elasticity—Sensitiveness—Rubbers
and Water-proof Leather—Cure for Sweating—Qualities
of a Good Covering 139
DRESS AND CARE OF THE FEET.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY
The human foot, it appears to us, is one of those members of the
body that have never received their due share of consideration. Like
certain _downtrodden_ members of the _social_ body, it seems to
have been looked upon as having fewer “rights that were entitled to
respect” than those organs which occupy a higher place, as the hands
and eyes. No other part has been so abused by pinching, squeezing,
chafing, freezing, and _corning_. The waist, of one sex especially,
has suffered a good deal of compression, but not so much, we think as
has the foot. It might perhaps be contended that the lowest parts of
the system perform a function equally necessary with that of those
above them and are therefore entitled to as tender care; but whether
this be so or not, it is at least certain they are “pressed to earth”
in a way that is wrong; and knowing this, it shall be our duty to set
forth their wrongs and rights as well as we may, hoping to effect
some improvement in the manner of their treatment.
The natural object and intention of the foot is the support of
the body, and the carrying of it, in all its movements, lightly,
easily, safely, and gracefully. To this object it is as beautiful
and wonderfully adapted as the eye and ear, those special objects
of wonder, to the functions performed by them. Its perfection may
be most frequently seen in the graceful steps of the dance, though
often also in the ordinary walk, while its capabilities may be
judged of by the fact, not so generally known, that men deprived of
their hands have succeeded in making their toes do the work of the
fingers in writing. Anatomy recognizes the fact, that in the number
and character of the bones, joints, and muscles of the foot and leg,
and the connection of the femur or thigh-bone at the pelvis, there
is a strict similarity or correspondence with those of the hand
and arm, and the connection of the latter at the shoulder-blade.
This justifies the conclusion, that all the variety of motion, and
complete adaptation to an infinite number of uses, which exists
in the hand, exists also to a less degree in the foot, and can be
brought out and exhibited, much of it at least, under circumstances
requiring its development. There is no reason for scepticism as to
the foot’s concealed powers—none for withholding the admiration due
to its perfect performance of the offices for which it is designed.
Nature, when allowed free scope for her work, does it thoroughly
and handsomely. Healthy children are born with arched insteps and
straight toes. Notice the foot of the little urchin who runs barefoot
in summer time around the outskirts of our cities and villages,
and there is no fault to be found with it. Though the parents’
feet have flat insteps, crooked toes, and big joints, those of the
child are regular-shaped and sound. There seems to be an intention
to give every one a fair start in the race of life with good pedal
extremities. It is not at all probable that old father Adam went
perambulating about his garden with the “hollow of his foot making
a hole in the ground,” or that his great toes pointed off in the
direction of the little ones, as though they had a secret affinity
for them, while the others were forced upward out of place, in
order to cover up the affair; nor that our beautiful mother Eve
wandered among the flowers with _her_ feet disfigured by corns and
large joints. If they had been, would the serpent have cultivated
her acquaintance in the way he did? On the contrary, does not
every painter and sculptor represent her with feet beautiful and
shapely, like every other feature of her person? Did the old Greek,
Phidias, make flat feet on his statues, and ornament them with
corns and callosities? Did old Hercules have a big toe-joint on
which to rest his club? Or did the ancients of the Golden Age know
about such things at all? The Art of the world has never recognized
them as beautiful or natural. We venture to say that in all the
painting and sculpture of the past they cannot be found. They are
entirely unnatural and deformed, belonging to the days of modern
civilization. Nature makes her feet, except in rare instances, with
arches well-marked and strong, and toes that point directly forward
in the line of the foot’s length. Yet the deformities spoken of are
very common at the present time, and in this most intelligent part
of the world. We believe, judging from a dozen years’ experience
in the making of boots and shoes for individual feet, that those
more or less deformed constitute the rule, and the healthy and
well-formed ones the exception. Such disfigurements and distortions
are thrust upon our attention every day—crooked feet—short, stumpy
feet—feet that tread inward, and those that tread only on the
outside edge—flat feet—crippled feet—and feet so disproportioned
that the part which should be an inch smaller than the instep is
often half an inch larger—feet with large ankles, and feet with long
heels—swelled feet, and feet that are nothing but bones—feet that
turn inward and outward, and backward—feet with flat insteps—with
big joints—with great toes that lie crosswise of the smaller
ones—with small ones that grow over each other—with nails grown in,
or to one side—with hard corns, and soft corns, little and big—with
callosities on insteps, and heels, and ankles—with chilblains all
over—feet with weak ankles that have lost their uprightness—sweaty
feet—sensitive feet that take cold by wetting, and give their owner
a consumption—and dirty feet that deserve to be diseased if they are
not.
The causes of these depravities, diseases, and deformities are many
and various. Thick and stiff leather coverings have had much to do
with corns and callosities. False taste and fashions, bad habits
of changing shoes, unnatural-shaped lasts, awkwardness in gait and
movement, muscular weakness, and perhaps other causes that we do not
yet know, have combined to produce flat insteps, crooked toes, large
joints, weak ankles, and all the rest.
The subject is one in which all who have not lost their feet are more
or less interested. To those who have children it is more especially
important. While much may be done to reform the feet of adult
persons, and it is intended to hold out all possible encouragement
to them to attempt it, still it is with the children that the main
work of correcting, improving, and educating must be effected. If a
child’s feet are trained up in the way they should _go_, they will
not be likely, when they are older, to depart from it, and incur
those penalties appropriately attached to an abuse of the foot’s
nature.
The particular causes of the more important of these troubles will be
shown in the succeeding chapters, and suggestions for their remedy or
prevention given.