Footer

“ With the sole of the foot on the floor, and the heel well down when the leg is carried forward to the extreme position, the angle that the leg makes with the floor will indicate sufficiently, much as is shown in the picture of sitting down using only one limb. ”

“ Hear Bracy Clark on the difference of the rate of growth of horn in the shod and unshod horse:—‘To consider all the beauty and purposes of the singular construction of the foot, we must dismiss from our views the miserable, coerced, shod foot entirely, and consider the animal in a pure state of nature, using his foot without any defence... The wall, or crust, of the hoof, where there is a demand for its wear, grows rapidly, as when in a state of nature and exposed to the ground ”

“ Occasionally on the sidewalk, amid the dapper, swiftly-moving, high-heeled boots and gaiters, I catch a glimpse of the naked human foot. Nimbly it scuffs along, the toes spread, the sides flatten, the heel protrudes; it grasps the curbing, or bends to the form of the uneven surfaces,—a thing sensuous and alive, that seems to take cognisance of whatever it touches or passes. How primitive and uncivil it looks in such company,—a real barbarian in the parlour. We are so unused to the human anatomy, to simple, unadorned nature, that it looks a little repulsive ”

“ It has often been noticed that a guide can go face forward, and whole-footed up a slope, while the amateur following, and coming to the steep part, has to go on his toes or turn sideways. It seems possible that the angle made by the foot with the leg may be more acute in the guide who has climbed from infancy, and though it is probably very much a matter of balance, I wished to compare photographs of amateurs’ feet when put into similar action. The guides wear thick leather boots loosely laced at the top, so that it is difficult to see the play of the ankle. ”

“ And with his perfect stride note how he works his feet to advantage: the right foot comes to the ground heel first, and as the left leg is swung in front of the right, the ball of the right comes down; [58] then, as the right foot rises to the toe position, the heel of the left strikes the ground and in turn takes the weight of the body. Notice how one foot is on the ground all the time; there is no possibility of a lift. A good test, to judge whether a walker is ‘lifting’ or not, is to note whether his head moves in a straight line; for, when one lifts, the head moves up and down. ”

“ A little higher, I found the outline of a foot, not so small as to awake an ecstasy, but with a suggestion of lightness, elasticity, and grace. If hands were thrust through holes in a board-fence, and nothing of the attached bodies seen, I can easily imagine that some would attract and others repel us: with footprints the impression is weaker, of course, but we cannot escape it. ”

“ The foot-path, which terminates at this point, receives a melancholy interest from the constant presence of a singular being who has trod it regularly for years. Hour after hour, and day after day, through sunshine and storm, he is to be seen winding among the trees, or moving with a slow monotonous walk along this track, where it verges into the rich sward. ”

“ In running we press mainly on the toes, and in walking the greater part of the foot comes down, and the longer the foot rests on the ground the deeper is the impress. In fact, an expert can make a pretty shrewd guess as to the rate at which the owner of the foot was travelling, by considering the size and depth of the footprint. ”

“ Did any one ever hear of an arch requiring support? * * * What is called the transverse arch is in reality a portion of an elliptic spring; and the moment you fill up the natural hollow of the foot you destroy its elasticity. What carriage-maker puts supports under the arches of his carriage-springs? The human foot is a combination of bones and strong muscles that act as springs, and at each point where it comes in contact with the ground is placed a cushion to prevent jarring. ”

“ The wall is that portion of the hoof which we see when the foot rests on the ground. It is a plate of horn which, applied to the anterior and lateral surfaces of the foot, diminishes in height as it approaches the posterior part of the region. ”

“ In some places your footstep is perfectly implanted, showing the whole shape, and the square toe, and every nail in the heel of your boot. Elsewhere, the impression is imperfect, and even when you stamp, you cannot imprint the whole. ”

“ If the toe of one rests on the top of the other, both right side up and at right angles, they form a dark hole or an alley.
The child whose shoes first form an alley must throw a pebble through this alley—that is, under the toe of the shoe—three times, or, failing to do so, one of the number takes up the shoes, and standing on a line, throws them all back over her head. ”

“ The foot has in its structure all the fine appliances you see in a building. In the first place, there is an arch, in whatever way you regard the foot; looking down upon it, we perceive several bones coming round the astralagos, and forming an entire circle of surfaces in the contact. If we look at the profile of the foot, an arch is still manifest, of which the posterior part is formed by the heel, and the anterior by the ball of the great toe ”

“ If you can fix the foot properly to control the line of action that you want, you will surely accomplish something. You should know what angle suits the action best. The foot should be symmetrical in shape to conform with the coffin bone, have no more foot on one side of the frog than on the other side, and the bearing surface to hang so as the foot will land on and leave the ground as square or level as possible. ”

“ The shoe should be long enough to extend well forward of the toes—two-thirds of an inch longer than the longest measurement of the naked foot; the inner sole border should be straight, broad across the ball and for average work on the roads need not be heavy but above all things it should conform to the foot. Have the heel fit snugly but across the ball or front of the foot arch no compression at all.
The tendency is to overdo foot covering, getting the shoes too heavy. There is no need of lugging around extra weight. ”

“ In a panorama it is not necessary to trouble about a matter that in other forms of screen representation of locomotion are highly important. This is to have the feet register, by which is meant that in any several succeeding drawings [139] where a foot is represented as touching, bearing down, and leaving the ground, it should do all this on a footprint that coincides in all of the series. Tracing over the illuminated glass, while making the drawings, is the only way to get footprints accurately placed. ”

“ A base-wide hoof requires the surface of support to be widened upon the inner side of the foot and narrowed upon the outer side, because the inner half of the foot hears the more weight. A shoe having the peculiarities described in paragraph 4, page 114, accomplishes this end. ”

“ The outer wall is, as a rule, somewhat more slanting than the inner. Viewing a foot in profile, the toe and heel should be parallel; that is, the line from the hair to the ground at the toe should be parallel to the line from the hair to the ground at the buttress. ”

“ 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. ”

“ When a foot is normal, the inner border does not touch the floor. By wetting the foot one can see readily whether he is flat-footed by the imprint made. The following exercises are good to strengthen the arches of the foot if there is a tendency to flat feet: (1) Turn toes in, raise the heels, and come down slowly on the outer borders of the feet; (2) Walk with heels raised and toes pointing inward, or walk on the outer borders of the foot, inner borders turned up. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The more the wood is taken off here, the more the foot will be thrown toward the outside of the shoe, or made to tread outside, and this will somewhat counterbalance the tendency which the toe has, when the end of it is made stationary, to push the joint and whole foot toward the inside. ”

“ In using this footgear,—which for one who knows how I consider the best there is, and for one who does not know how is nearly useless,—a thick, even pad, or cushion, of the fine, soft, dry arctic grass is arranged in the bottom of the boot, then the stocking is put in very carefully, and a thin layer of the same grass placed in the bottom of the stocking. The object of the first layer of grass is to keep the bottom of the feet warm and to protect them from the sharp corners of the ice. ”

“ The most salient and sensible point in the Tibetan footgear, however, is that the foot, all but the top part, is encased in the thick sole, thus preventing the jamming of toes between stones when walking, for instance, on débris, and also doing away with the accumulation of snow and mud between the sole and boot, so inconvenient in our footgear. ”

“ Though it be a black foot and an unwashed foot, it shall be exalted. It is a thing of life amid leather, a free spirit amid cramped, a wild bird amid caged, an athlete amid consumptives. It is the symbol of my order, the Order of Walkers. ”

“ If you do not fix feet by this rule, the sensitive portion of the foot will often prevent you from lowering it enough to level up matters with opposite side, and the sensitive parts of the foot that will prevent you from doing this will be the outside of a front foot and the inside of a hind foot. This is the main reason why so many floormen in shops all over the country cut the inside of front feet too low for the outside, and leave the inside of the hind feet too high for the outside of same. ”

“ In studying the footprint slabs one frequently comes across some very small impressions, hardly exceeding three inches in length, three-toed, with no indication of a grasping claw behind, nor of a tail trace. One might be apt to attribute these little footprints to the young of the larger species until one notices the great interval between the successive tracks, a distance six to eight times the length of the foot itself. ”

“ When you see an English country church withdrawn, secluded, out of the reach of wheels, standing amid grassy graves and surrounded by noble trees, approached by paths and shaded lanes, you appreciate more than [Pg 230] ever this beautiful habit of the people. Only a race that knows how to use its feet, and holds footpaths sacred, could put such a charm of privacy and humility into such a structure. ”

“ Take a short run, place the toe of the right foot against a wall and throw the left leg over it, making a complete turn at the same time so that when your foot touches the ground your back is to the wall. The right foot is the pivot on which you turn and you must take especial care to keep it quite close to the wall while you perform the Turn Over. ”

“ The foot-rule of the carpenter not only gives him the standard of a foot measure, which he could not exactly ascertain by any experience, or any mental process, but it is also a scale of the proportions of an inch, or several inches, to a foot, and of the parts of an inch to an inch. ”

“ To Advance.—Being on guard, take a short step forward with the right foot and let the left foot follow immediately the same distance, the position of the body not being changed. However the step, or series of steps, is made, the right foot should always move first. ”

“ The adult foot, when properly formed, is straight from heel to toe on the inner side, and is wider across the joints than one inch or so farther back. The manner of walking has a considerable bearing on the character and development of the foot. ”

“ In connection with the subject of position comes the management of the feet. The weight should rest equally on both feet, and in breaking ground, as movement to one side or the other is termed, or in advancing or retreating, the feet should never be raised from the ground as in walking. ”

“ It seems to me that the character of our footgear signifies more than is commonly supposed. The footgear represents in itself a check upon individual freedom. It signifies this even in costliness; but in form it signifies infinitely more. It has distorted the Western foot out of the original shape, and rendered it incapable of the work for which it was evolved. The physical results are not limited to the foot. Whatever acts as a check, directly or indirectly, upon the organs of locomotion must extend its effects to the whole physical constitution. Does the evil stop even there? ”

“ In all Positions whatsoever, the Form of the Foot is known by these Marks, viz. That which resembles an O, represents the Heel; the Line join’d to it, the Ankle; and the Extremity of that Line, the Point of that Foot.
A half Position.
This Figure of the Foot, is but a half Position, because it represents but one Foot, whereas a whole Position does that of two, as in the Figure A B.
Position
’Tis to be observ’d, that the Letter A, in the foregoing Figure, represents the left Foot, and B, the right. ”

“ As I walked Cheyne Row that summer Sunday my eye rested again and again upon those three stone steps that led up to the humble door, each hollowed out by the attrition of the human foot, the middle one, where the force of the footfall would be greatest, most deeply worn of all,—worn by hundreds of famous feet, and many, many more [203] not famous. ”