Metrical foot

“ Every one of the ten toes should be allowed to grow to its proper size and should exert its due pressure on the ground when we walk, jump or run. The natural foot is a perfect arch, and its two columns the ball of the foot and the heel should be on an exact level, which means that the heel of the shoe should not be over a half inch in height. The heel of the shoe should also be large, in fact, nearly as broad as the broadest part of the sole. The inside of the shoe should be three quarters of an inch longer and a half inch broader than the foot that it is meant to cover. ”

“ As the foot spreads at every step, the arch naturally flattens in the middle, but this is prevented when the sole is built up under it. It is self-evident that the foot is designed to tread on a flat surface, as its most natural function. Any attempt to make it tread constantly on a convex one is manifestly wrong. ”

“ This method keeps the feet nearer the same size a longer time than would be the case if the artificial foot were made the same size as the natural foot in the first place. When it is necessary to increase the size of the foot it can be easily and inexpensively done. ”

“ The right kind of shoe for a wide foot is one so wide on the sole that the upper will project over it on the sides but slightly, and with as great a width of the toe, in proportion to the ball, as there would be in a narrow one. Such a shoe will make the foot appear narrower, by contrast, than it really is, and the greater the width of the toe, the more this effect is produced. Besides, the shoe or boot keeps its proper shape much better and longer when not too narrow or too short. ”

“ 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. ”

“ What is necessary is to be carefully measured for{177} boots with the two feet separately, and with the weight resting on the foot that is being measured, since the weight naturally spreads out and flattens the foot, and it is of the first importance to have a boot that is not cramped when the muscles of the foot are being used. It is the toes that chiefly suffer in ill-fitting boots, since the boot is, as a rule, made broad enough for the foot in repose, but does not allow for the spread of the toes which takes place (or should take place) every time a step is made. ”

“ If the feet are not properly prepared to help the pocket weight to control the faulty line of action, one will be working against the other, and the results will be unsatisfactory, but if properly performed as to foot fixing and weighting, and a little time to bring about the change results will be good. The hole in foot to receive the spur of the pocket weight should be about half way between toe and heel to get best results. The pocket weight should be used on inside of foot for winging in and on outside of foot for a paddler. ”

“ The names foot and pound, or their equivalents in widely different languages, have been applied to magnitudes, nominally constant but practically variable, during the last 2,000 years. The Olympic foot, in use among the ancient Greeks, was traditionally derived from the foot of Hercules. To eradicate the popular devotion to these standards, variable as they may be, can not be accomplished in a generation. ”

“ The feet in all climbing should be placed lightly, and the swing of the leg kept under control. To aim the foot, as many do, from the thigh and knee, bang it in, and then leave it to settle itself on the hold, is to jar the foot and fatigue the leg. The movement should be precisely directed from start to finish, and no sinew slackened until the other foot has taken charge. In continuous climbing the position of the foot on the new foothold should be chosen with a view to its supporting the balance during the next movement up or down, and the foot must be placed exactly as the eye designed. ”

“ The peculiar and immensely important fact about these footprints is that they were made by an abnormal foot—sixteen inches long from heel to big toe, and shaped more like the hand of a gigantic simian than like an Aryan foot. Becker pronounced it immediately the foot of a giant negro.
“That's far enough,” broke in Masters, seeing that I had read the essentials. “The rest of it is mere imagination.”
“That is horrible, grotesque!” I exclaimed, handing back the clipping. “There isn't any creature living to-day which possesses a foot sixteen inches long, is there?” ”

“ Say as little as possible while removing the shoe, and get it off as quickly and easily as possible—then 128produce the measuring stick. Either have the customer stand on the stick or place the foot flat upon the foot rest of the fitting stool. An important point to remember is that the foot should never be measured while in the air. The toes should be well stretched out by pressing them with the fingers—and be sure to remember what the foot measures. ”

“ So leaving out of the question all lateral movements at the ankle-joint as difficult and complicated to estimate, we will briefly consider the question of the ordinary angle that the foot makes with the leg so far as it is less than a right angle, and whether the trained guide has any advantage over the amateur in this respect. ”

“ Locate the faulty end, see if the horse has too much action in front and not enough behind, or if he has too much behind and not enough in front. Get a line on his gait before you make any changes, perhaps you may not have to change but one end of him to either increase or decrease action. Weight in the shoe is the important factor applied to a perfectly balanced foot, whether it is a front foot or a hind foot. You can add weight to the front or hind feet, as may be desired, to increase action, or decrease the weight to decrease the action at either end. ”

“ But everywhere and always the people object to a long foot-standard. Whether in ancient Egypt or in modern Italy, they will take a more convenient length; they will halve the cubit so as to get a short foot, or take some span, or some ell divisible into spans. So in Italy there was generally a local foot and also a span. Sometimes the span was 3/4 of the foot, at other times it was a fraction of a braccio or ell; and both foot and span might be called a palmo. This term was equivalent to the L. palmus major as distinguished from the ordinary palmus of 4 digits. ”

“ A system of French sizes is used which consists of a cipher system of markings to indicate the sizes as well as widths so that the real size may not be known to the customer.
All feet are not alike in structure and shape. In infancy the foot is broad at the toes, which press forward in the direction of their length. The heel is small in comparison to the width of the toes, and also short in length, due to the undeveloped bones. But during growth, the thickness above the heel bones disappears, and the heel itself becomes thicker and assumes the beauty of perfection at maturity. ”

“ The impressions are to all appearance those of a man standing upright, the left foot a little forwards, the heels turned inwards. The distance between the heels by an exact measurement was six and a quarter inches, and thirteen and a half between the extremities of the great toes. By an accurate examination, it however will be ascertained, that they are not the impression of feet, accustomed to the use of European shoes, for the toes are pressed out, and the foot is flat, as is II.114 observed in persons who walk barefoot. ”

“ The foot then of the infant can be flexed until it is almost parallel with the [133] leg; during growth it loses flexibility as it gains in strength and becomes adapted for the erect position and for walking, which is the natural gait of man. The angle made by the foot with the leg in adults is fairly fixed, and a difference between guides and amateurs in this respect is not easy to discover. ”

“ It is also true that a slight hollow will exist under the ball of a well-arched foot, even when pressed upon by the weight of the body. This may be filled up if desired, for, being so small, it is a matter of indifference whether it is so or not, while there is perfect safety in letting it alone. ”

“ Unnatural width in the toes of boots is, however, a less evil than the unnatural narrowness of the toe which has been the prevailing fashion for generations, and is still unfortunately so common that it is almost an impossibility to obtain a boot or shoe ready-made which is less than two inches narrower across the toe than the foot that has to be crammed into it.
The result of the high-heeled and pointed shoes, which curl the toes up into a painful mass and render the centre of gravity unstable, is to impede locomotion and make exercise repugnant. ”

“ There are very few floormen that can level and balance a hind foot. In preparing it for a shoe to correct faulty 5action, the majority of them do not know how to hold the leg to look at the bottom of the foot to tell which side is highest. They should keep in mind while fixing the foot, the results they are trying to get; if they do not, they are liable to get the foot too low on one side or the other. A hind foot that is left the highest on the inside is a dangerous weapon to a trotter or pacer; it will cause injury to ankle ligaments and to bones of the foot. ”

“ On both trotting and pacing shoes the heel-calks should be low and sharp and should run straight forward so as not to retard the forward glide of the foot as it is set to earth heel first. The heel-calk serves chiefly to prevent the lateral twist of the foot as the horse takes the sharp turns of the track.
Freak shoes, toe-weights, side-weights, excessive length of hoof or toe, and other unscientific appliances and methods of shoeing speed horses are being gradually eliminated, and today the fastest are dressed and shod in accordance with the principles enunciated in this book. ”

“ To prevent the points working loose in the holes they make, the foot has to be placed at once in the position and at the angle in which it will have to sustain the weight of the body passing across it. ”

“ Then it is just such a shoe as would fit easily and comfortably a foot that treads outside; and for that very reason it is exactly such a one as ought to be worn by a foot that treads inwardly. All the force exerted by the stiffness of the counter, and the inclination of the whole shoe, goes toward righting up the foot and pushing it over outwardly. Still there is nothing that can hurt the foot—only a steady and gentle pressure in the right direction, which does not interfere with the use of the muscles. ”