Toe

“ The great toe is usually twisted towards the median line, and the joint consequently has an ugly knotted appearance: all five toes are crushed together, and lose their natural shape, while the last, and often the last but one, is altogether distorted and deformed. Nor is the mischief confined to the toes: the whole foot, so seldom exposed to the open air, has a dry, lean, ill-nourished look. ”

“ Local applications of starch-powder and the juice of lemon may be used to advantage.
THE FEET.
A well formed foot is broad at the sole, the toes well spread, each separate toe perfect and rounded in form. The nails are regular and perfect in shape as those of the fingers. The second toe projects a little beyond the others, and the first, or big toe, stands slightly apart from the rest and is slightly lifted. The feet, from the circumstance of their being so much confined by boots and shoes, require more care in washing than the rest of the body. Yet they do not always get this care. ”

“ These have become accustomed to an upright gait in their climbing; hence the feet are used for supporting the body and the hands for grasping. Both [92] thumb and great toe are opposable; but the foot is a true foot, and the hand a true hand, in anatomical structure. The face, hands, and feet have mainly lost the covering of hair. ”

“ In all, the fore limbs are terminated by hands, provided with longer or shorter thumbs; while the great toe of the foot, always smaller than in Man, is far more moveable than in him and can be opposed, like a thumb, to the rest of the foot. ”

“ In a few other families of this order, as the todies, the kingfishers, &c., the foot is called upon to assist in feeding, and we consequently find certain modifications of structure indicative of this office. In order to strengthen the foot and to secure a firmer grasp, the external and middle toes are united almost to the apex, and the strength of the hind toe is considerably increased. ”

“ In this manner arise those unseemly and painful swellings at the root of the great toe, which, either from mistaking their true nature, or from wilful deception, are called ‘chilblains,’ or ‘gout,’ just as one or the other term appears the most interesting. ”

“ The large as well as the small steps show the great toes alternately on the right and left side; each step makes the print of five toes, the first, or great toe, being bent inward like a thumb. Though the fore and hind foot differ so much in size, they are nearly similar in form. ”

“ The operation of contracting it, which is performed in early youth, is not painful. Four of the toes are bent under the sole of the foot, to which they are firmly pressed, and to which they grow together, the great toe being left in its natural state. ”

“ Several almost fall in love with the great toe or the little one, especially admiring some crease or dimple in it, dressing it in some rag of silk or bit of ribbon, or cut-off glove fingers, winding it with string, prolonging it by tying on bits of wood. ”

“ In graceful walking, should the toes or the heel touch the ground first? What are the causes of deformed feet? What is the natural position of the big toe? Did you ever see a big toe lying in a straight line with the foot, as shown in statuary and paintings? How should we have our boots and shoes made? ”

“ The foot proper extends as high as the apparent knee. This is in reality the wrist or ankle, and the apparent foot is but a finger or toe corresponding to the middle finger and middle toe of the hand and foot of man. ”

“ In the slightest degree of affection of the foot, the great toe is drawn a little away from the other toes; in severer degrees the toe is drawn away still further, and the whole foot is forcibly bent upon the ankle, and its sole directed a little inwards. ”

“ All art, as already noticed in the first chapter, recognizes the right of the toes to sufficient space to touch the surface upon which they tread. It does not crowd them or turn them aside from their natural straightness. [1] An observation of the best specimens of statuary will confirm the assertion, that the great toe ought, naturally, to lie pointing directly forward, in such a position that a line drawn from the inner surface of the heel past the ball or joint will be nearly parallel to it. ”

“ The Sandalled Foot It is usually square-tipped, thick, and muscular. The next toe is slender and long, the second and third toes graduate, and the little toe is curved or doubled up, and is almost more negligible in size and appearance than the little finger. ”

“ It not unfrequently happens that the dislocation of the great toe is carried so far that it becomes placed almost at a right angle to the long axis of the foot, lying across the roots of the other toes. ”

“ The four smaller toes are bent under the foot, and the instep is forced upward and backward. The foot therefore assumes the shape of an acute triangle, the big toe forming the acute angle and the other toes, being bent under the foot, becoming almost lost or absorbed. ”

“ Ingrowing Toe-nail.—This is more accurately described as an overgrowth of the soft tissues along the edge of the nail. It is most frequently met with in the great toe in young adults with flat-foot whose feet perspire freely, who wear ill-fitting shoes, and who cut their toe-nails carelessly or tear them with their fingers. ”

“ One thought it would fit her if she cut a little from her great toe; and another, with too short a foot, put something in the tip of her stocking. But no use; they only spoiled their feet, and were curing them for months afterwards. ”

“ The foot is set more obliquely on the leg and the big-toe is farther from the rest, proportionally shorter and weaker, and, above all, more flexible. Certainly these important differences are connected with its mode of life, which is more arboreal than that of man. ”

“ They keep both hands closed and together, and with the right fist they point to the toes, beginning with the big toe of the right foot, and so along the other toes of that foot, and then go to the big toe of the left foot, and so along the other toes of that foot, thus reaching the enumerative total of twenty. ”

“ The heel-bone is flat from side to side, and the toe-thumb, which reaches about half way up the first joint of the next toe, has considerable powers of motion, and can be struck out from the foot or be pulled in. ”

“ Their feet look like a mittened hand—that is to say, a large toe corresponds to the thumb, and the rest of the foot, being solid, appears like the hand enclosed in a mitten. They have very large heads compared with their bodies, and eyes like a frog. They change their color, and, under my own observation, made the changes from light green to yellow, black, brown, blue, and dark green. ”

“ 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. ”

“ While a toe or two, or a small longitudinal segment of the foot, may be comparatively useless, and a good artificial foot, with an ankle-joint stump, certainly preferable, a single finger, provided its motions are tolerably intact, will prove much more valuable to its possessor than the most ingeniously contrived artificial hand. ”

“ Better to point the toes downwards and forwards, never outwards; spring sharply towards the tiptoe, straightening the knee. Learn also to hold the ground with the great toe at the beginning and at the end of each step. We cannot grasp the ground; good foothold is only to be obtained by pressure of the toes against it. ”

“ Considerable diversity is observed in regard to the manner in which the person treads on the ground; most commonly the ball of the little toe bears the brunt of the pressure, but in some instances the weight is thrown upon the great toe, or it is diffused over the whole of the fore part of the plantar surface. ”

“ By the suppression or atrophy of first the innermost toe, then of the outermost, you find that mammals may first acquire four toes only, and then only three, and by repeating the process the toes may be reduced to two, or right away to one, the original middle toe. ”