rience leads me to suppose, that, generally speaking, deformity is occasioned simply by standing in one position a greater length of time than the Divine Author of our being ever intended we should do. I am strengthened in this opinion, by the history of the cripples I have met with in different parts of the country, whether they have been brought up in the woolen, worsted, flax, cotton, or silk mill; nine out of every ten having been compelled to work from morning to night, without being allowed to sit down for a minute.
Let us turn our attention, for a moment, to the formation of the lower extremities of the human frame. There is a beautiful arch of bones formed in the foot, on the middle of which the main bone of the leg is planted; in walking, the heel and ball of the great toe touch the ground. The bones in the arch of the foot are of a wedge-like form, the same as the stones which form the arch of a bridge. This bridge receives the weight of the body, and by its elastic spring, prevents any shock being felt in leaping, &c. The weight of the body being too long sustained in factory working, this wedge-like form is lost; the bones give way, fall in, and the elastic spring of the foot is forever gone; the inside of the sole of the foot touches the ground, constituting that deformity which is called the splayfoot. The ligaments of the ankle joint then give way, and the ankle falls inwards or outwards, as the case may be. The ligaments of the knee joint give way, causing what is called "knock knee'd;" or, where the leg is bent outwards, it constitutes that deformity called "bow-legged." After the ligaments have given way, then the bones also bend, but not so much in the middle as at the extremities. This bending of the bones of the lower extremities is sometimes so striking, that occasionally six, or even twelve inches of height are lost in consequence; which may be proved in this man-
