of the fashion, the diagonal motion of the foot does not coincide with that of the boot, and the consequence of this is that the boot is trodden over either to one side or the other, a result which is aggravated when the heel is high. Roughness or other discomfort in one part of a boot will also cause the wearer to bear on the other side, and to "tread over the sole."
To return once more to the all-important subject of the great toe. When in natural walking it is drawn away from the others, the area of leverage by which the equilibrium of the body is maintained is increased. But when the toe is turned towards the middle of the foot, as in Plate 8, Fig. B, the abductor muscle, which, as its name says, draws the great toe away from the others, is stretched, the joint of the great toe with the metatarsal is enlarged, sometimes becoming inflamed, and the difficulty of walking steadily becomes great. To remedy this children naturally turn the feet themselves inwards, and thus a deformity very common in our orthopaedic hospitals is created.
As Mr. Ellis has rightly said, "It is mainly due to the special development of the great toe, in a line with the long axis of the foot, that man is enabled to exercise the attribute of standing erect"4[1] The conventional boot, however, seems purposely constructed to divert the great toe from its natural position; it aims at making the foot look as if both sides were symmetrical.
- ↑ 4 See Lancet, June 21, 1884, pp. 1113—1115. Mr. Ellis, M.R.C.S., "On Physiology of the Feet,"
