Science of Dress/Chapter XIV
CHAPTER XIV.
THE FEET AND HOW TO CLOTHE THEM.[edit]
THE subject of clothing for the feet is one of very great importance, both directly and indirectly, as affecting the comfort and health of the individual and the well-being of the nation. Ill-formed boots and shoes are not only the cause of direct suffering to the wearer, but they also indirectly lead to the impairment of his or her health by rendering exercise painful, and thus hindering the development of the muscular system and robbing the lungs and the blood of the fresh air so needful to their proper action. For, as owing to want of out-door exercise the lungs are badly supplied with air, the circulation becomes sluggish, the blood is insufficiently supplied with oxygen and the processes of nutrition are impaired.
It is said by competent authorities that a potent cause of anæmia, a disease characterized by pallor owing to a deficiency of red corpuscles in the blood, among Chinese women is the cramped state of their feet, which prevents them from taking proper exercise, and the reason of this will be apparent after reading the next few pages.
Anæmia is a very prevalent disease among English ladies also, and the same cause is probably in action here to a considerable extent. It is only natural that when progression is so painful, as I know it to be in fashionable boots or shoes, people should prefer to remain at home in an easy chair or on a sofa, or at best to be driven out rather than walk even a short way. They do not, perhaps, recognize the reason of their disinclination for exercise, but think that it is natural for walking to be so very tiresome. It is time, however, that there should no longer be any mistake on that point. More than half the troubles of life are produced by the sufferers for themselves, and the troubles caused by improper boots are some of these.
The neglect which has been the fate of our "poor feet" is one of the most extraordinary facts in civilization. The evils of improper foot-coverings have been pointed out again and again, but for centuries past little advance has been made in this respect. The ancients were by no means free from troubles produced by ill-made shoes and sandals; and, indeed, Socrates, like a true philosopher as he was, preferred to go barefoot rather than wear the fashionable foot-dress of his time, the diseases and deformities produced by which have been described by Celsus and others.
Changes of fashion as regards boots and shoes have been many, but the changes have been almost invariably from one evil to another. At one time the toes have had such long and narrow points that they were turned far up and fastened by a chain to the knee, while at another they have been perfectly square; at one time the heels have been half a foot high, at another they have been quite flat. Francis I. of France was a free liver, and suffered much from swollen feet; he, therefore, introduced preternaturally wide toes, and this fashion spread so quickly over Europe that in the sixteenth century a law was passed in England prohibiting the wearing of boots more than six inches wide across the toes. 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. In this result they resemble that of the cioppini, on which the ladies of the sixteenth century and later were apt to hobble about, and which, according to Cobar-ruvias, were intended to prevent women from gadding. They were made first of wood and afterwards of cork, forming a clump under the shoe which was sometimes a foot and a half high, and highly ornamented. Ladies walking out in them were obliged to lean on the arm of an attendant, or they would have fallen to the ground.
Thus were European ladies brought much to the same condition as that of Chinese female aristocrats, whose feet have been reduced to the much-desired shape of "golden lilies." The Chinese process is instructive, as showing to what tortures people will consent for the sake of fashion.
As soon as the child has learned to walk the feet are bandaged with strips of specially-made material, the strips being two yards long for the first year and five yards long afterwards. The toes are bandaged closely under the foot, and the arch of the foot increased by this pressure. The bandage is worn night and day for a month, after which the feet are soaked in hot water, the bandage removed, with a considerable quantity of skin adhering to it, and the joints kneaded to make them more pliable. The feet are then re-bandaged more tightly than before.
This process is repeated at intervals, and sometimes one or more toes will come away when the bandage is unwound, having mortified under the pressure. For the first year the pain is excruciating, and occasionally girls cannot be made to submit to the prolonged torture, and their feet remain imperfectly doubled together; in these cases a piece of cork is placed in the space between the front and back of the foot, so as to support the weight of the body. When the process is continued, in about two years the nerves of the parts implicated in the bandages have become deadened, and pain ceases, the muscles below the knee have shrunk for want of use, and the feet, the front parts of which have been completely destroyed or doubled under, are reduced to mere stumps, on which locomotion is about as easy as it would be if the legs from the knees downwards were made of wood.
Any one reading this description will of course exclaim, "O how shocking! Thank goodness we have nothing like that in civilized Europe." The exclamation is perhaps natural, for we are all rather given to seeing the mote in our neighbour's eye, but not the beam in our own; but in the matter of its feet, civilized Europe has much reason for complaint.
The persistence of the pointed toe, which has been fashionable for many centuries past, is indeed one of the most remarkable examples of the survival of the unfittest which can be found. It is made upon a last shaped in front like a wedge, so that the side of the boot or shoe which should accommodate the big toe is precisely similar to that which covers the little toe. Now, if the wearers of these boots were in reality what dress-reformers may euphemistically feel inclined to call them, this arrangement would not be at all amiss, for it is admirably suited to clothe a foot which has a great toe in the middle and a little toe each side of it, like that of a goose; but that the human foot, constructed as it is, can be crammed into a receptacle so much smaller than itself and of so different a shape as the fashionable boot or shoe, is a standing marvel.1[1]
In reality, the great toe is pressed into the middle of the boot, where it overlies the second and sometimes part of the third toe, while the tip of the great toe, which is an inch or more in thickness, is forced into the small space whence the wedge end of the last has been removed. Nor is the case much better even if the shoe is worn a size or more larger than the foot; for, however this may be, in walking the high heel forces the toes down into the wedge.
And what is the beauty of the result when all the tortures of these "infernal machines " are endured? The appearance is that which suggested to a little four-year-old who had been comparing his own chubby feet with those of a gentleman visiting his father, who wore shoes tapering to a point in the approved fashionable style, the following question: "I say, is your toes all cutted off but one?"
Can English gentlemen condemn Chinese ladies for deforming their feet in the way I have described when in the appearance of their own they come so very near a similar ideal deformity? What would be the horror of an English lady whose child was born with only one toe on each foot, and that in the middle? Yet this is the form to attain which both men and women have been suffering tortures for generations past; for, although invariably women are made to bear all the blame which is given in respect to articles of dress, in the matter of pointed toes the men outdo us entirely in their extravagant outrages on nature.
Even intelligent men have not the slightest idea of what the natural shape of the foot is; and a clever young fellow, who, by-the-bye, had on a pair of patent leathers in the extreme of the pointed fashion, on my condemning this fashion, endeavoured to convince me that I was in the wrong in the following way: "Now, look at my hand," he said, spreading it flat on the table, with the fingers lying close to each other. "You see that the fingers on each side slope up to a point constituted by the middle finger. Well, the foot is exactly like the hand; so you see the fashionable boot is a natural and proper shape."
Nor, indeed, is it very surprising that people should be so ignorant as to what is the proper shape of the foot, for such a thing as a natural foot is hardly to be found except among the street boys in our gutters, from whose lower extremities the fashionable world avert their gaze. Not even the feet that we see represented in pictures or by sculptors are natural feet, for, although to a certain extent idealized by the artists, they really represent models which have been cramped by ordinary ill-fitting boots, and I have seen even in books of anatomy illustrations of so-called normal feet where the great toe was directed outwards, evidently by the fault of the bootmaker who shod the original of the picture.
Deformed feet are unfortunately not the exception but the rule in England, and it is quite time that we should strike at the root of this evil. The foot is naturally a beautiful organ; why should it not be allowed to retain its beauty? The foot is generally said to have three chief parts—the tarsus and metatarsus, which form the arch of the foot, and the toes. These parts are made up in all of twenty-eight bones, all of which are well supplied with muscles. The foot is therefore by nature a very mobile organ, and those who have been deprived of the use of their arms have found that with their feet they could perform those actions for which we employ our hands. There is a well-known case of a man born without arms who earned his living by painting pictures with his feet, and another in the same unfortunate case who became a very good violinist.
If we watch the movements of infants' feet, we notice their great freedom; the little toes are stretched out and drawn back, they will grasp anything placed in contact with them, and the bones and muscles are all brought into play in seemingly aimless sprawlings. These movements, however, are by no means aimless, they serve the good purpose of preparing the feet for future usefulness; but that usefulness is unfortunately curtailed by our "civilized" boots and shoes, which cramp the feet, and, by preventing the proper movement of the bones, cause the degeneration of the muscles and the consequent reduction of the foot to a state of comparative inactivity. The phalanges, or bones of the toes, and the metatarsals, or long bones of the instep, suffer from the narrowness of their coverings, and the tarsals, the bones at the back of the instep and heel, are thrown out of their proper position by high heels.
The natural position of the bones is shown in a side view in Plate 6, Fig. A, while a glance at Fig. B in the same plate will convince the beholder of the bad position produced by a high heel, which alters the whole balance of the body. The arch is well known to be the strongest form of support, and the arches of the feet are consequently adapted to be the best supports for the weight of the body. An arch has level abutments and a centre or keystone, which is represented in the foot by that bone with which the bones of the leg articulate. Now if the abutments of an arch are not level the position of the keystone is altered and the arch at once becomes unstable. Thus it is when a high heel raises one abutment of the arch of the foot.2[2] The strength of the natural support is lost, the centre of gravity is changed, and the whole method of walking has to be altered in order to maintain the equilibrium. Hence people who wear very high heels take small, mincing steps, are apt to totter and stumble in their walk, and are on the whole most ungraceful in their movements. This is one of the chief reasons why we see so few people who really walk well, for the boots of the 
Plate 6.—The bones of the foot at rest. (A) Normal position. (B) Distorted position caused by high heel. majority will not allow them to do so. For my own part I think that grace of bearing, comfort, and health are preferable to fashion in boots; but I must warn those who very rightly make up their minds to take this view of the question, and make the change from irrational to rational foot-gear, that they must not be discouraged if they feel some discomfort at first in consequence of the change.
When the position of the bones is altered as I have shown it to be by high heels, the action of the tendons and muscles in connection with these bones is also changed, so that those accustomed to wear high heels feel discomfort and sometimes even severe pain if they have to walk barefoot or with low heels; for the muscles connected with the sole which form the Achilles tendon suffer under the unaccustomed stretching. The discomfort, however, will rapidly disappear if rational foot-gear is worn for a time, as the muscles will regain their natural and proper action. Raising the heels diminishes the leverage by which the balance of the body is maintained, and the higher the heels the greater is the risk of falls and sprains, and the greater the distortion of the foot.
In natural walking the heel first touches the ground, and although it has even quite recently been maintained by Mr. Ellis3[3] and others that the toes are first to come in contact with the ground, the truth of the reverse is conclusively proved by photography. In instantaneous views where foot passengers are, so to speak, arrested in the various stages of the series of movements which constitute a step, the leg is seen to be extended stiffly from the hip, the toes pointing upwards at almost a right angle to the heel, the back of which rests on the ground; at the next stage the toes reach the ground, and if they are permitted to act properly, the great toe will be held firmly throughout its length on to the ground and form a firm basis of support for the weight of the body, while the small toes will grasp the ground, and the heel be lifted at the same time as the heel of the other foot is being advanced for the first movement of the next step. The various movements in walking follow each other so rapidly that we are quite unacquainted with them, hence when they are photographed they appear unnatural and even ridiculous.
Since the heels reach the ground first, they wear from the back, and hence it is desirable that the leather should be thicker at this part than at any other. To this real want may be attributed the use of heels which has developed into such an abuse; but although there is a real use for heels they should be used in moderation, being low, not much more than twice the thickness of the sole; they should be broad, and they should be placed so as to support the centre of gravity of the body. If placed too far forward or too far back the difficulty of walking and the fatigue of standing is greatly increased.
When the heels are high the body has to be bent forward as in the once familiar "Grecian bend," and this frequently leads to spinal curvature 
Plate 7.—The outline is that of an ordinary foot, while the shaded part shows the boot into which it is forced. in girls who have not done growing, or who are weak in the spine. The pelvis (see Plate 1, A) is also tilted forwards, and this leads to anti-flexion of the uterus, one form of displacement of the womb, as it is commonly called, with all its attendant evils. Towards the end of pregnancy also, when the upper part of the female frame is thrown back in order to maintain the centre of gravity, the heels are greatly borne upon in walking. At this time high heels are most dangerous, as they are not only likely to cause the wearer to fall forward, but they prepare for her a difficult labour by causing the lumbar vertebrae to push forward.
The high heel assists the pointed toe in deforming the foot by forcing the foot forward to the end of the boot.
A simple experiment will show any individual what the shape of his boots ought to be; for feet are as distinctive features of the human frame as hands or faces, and they ought to be studied accordingly. If the weight of the body is pressed forward on the naked foot as in walking, unless the foot has become thoroughly deformed, the toes will be seen to spread out, the great toe, which has only two joints, will spread somewhat inwards away from the others, and be firmly pressed upon the ground, while the other toes, which have three joints, will be slightly bent up at the middle, so that the soft cushions at their extremities exercise the grasping action before mentioned. The second toe is a trifle longer than the others, and naturally somewhat arched above them, exercising
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Plate 8.—(A) Normal foot in rationally made boot. (B) The same foot distorted by being forced into an ordinary fashionable boot. an important grasping action. Unfortunately, however, it is generally thrust under the great toe and rendered useless by the agency of improper boots.
With such ill-made boots (see Plate 8, Fig. B) owing to the bones of the feet being prevented from exercising their proper movements in walking, the muscles below the knees, which are connected with those bones, waste for want of use. The foot, cramped into a motionless mass by the boot, thus becomes in its function, or rather want of function, very like the deformed "lily" of the Chinese, and the shrunken, calfless leg is in a similar way used simply as a stump. Since proper action in the lower part of the leg is thus prevented excessive work is thrown on the muscles of the thigh, &c., and exercise becomes painful and exhausting. Moreover, ill-formed shoes and boots are the cause of many painful affections of the feet, such as corns on the joints or between the toes, of the hard or soft variety, bunions or inflammations of the joints, ingrowing toe-nails, the extraction of which is one of the most painful operations known to surgery; inflammations of the roots of the nails (onchia), especially of the great toes, and painful callosities on all parts of the feet, besides the too common swellings and abrasions of the skin.
When, as in the narrow-toed boot I have described, the big toe is pressed outwards towards the centre of the foot, and the little toe inwards, as in Plate 8, Fig. B, which is only a moderate example 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[4] 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. There is certainly a love of symmetry in the human mind; but art is not required to make the feet symmetrical. One foot is the complement of the other, and the two taken together, when placed side by side, make a sort of dome of which the two great toes, which should be parallel to one another, form the apex. The boots then should be made to the natural shape of the foot, and square toes, though not so objectionable from a health point of view, are equally bad, artistically speaking, as the pointed ones. Plenty of room should be given in the leather above the great toe, for, as Mr. Ellis remarks, "It is obvious that where a flexible material is fixed on both sides and left loose between, it can be drawn furthest from the surface to which it is attached in a line midway between the fixed parts. For this reason the highest part of the foot, which is in the inner side, will have a tendency to go to the middle line of the foot where most room can be made." The high ridge of the last, and consequently of the boot, should then be made on the inner margin, and if the line of the seam or laces of the boot be carried along this ridge the unpleasant effect of an inverted appearance of the foot, which a straight line would give in such a position, is avoided. Toe-caps should not be used as they give most room in the middle line. The great toe is so commonly and so easily diverted outwards that socks and stockings should be made with a straight inner line and otherwise to fit the foot. In considerable distortion a separate stall can be made for the great toe both in the stocking and in the boot.
The chief points of importance that should be observed both by makers and by buyers of boots are that—
The inner margin should be straight to the big toe.
The toe should be of a natural breadth.
The heels should be broad, low, and under the natural heel.
The waist of the sole, answering to the arch of the foot, should possess a certain amount of elasticity.
Now, as we are unfortunately dependent on tradespeople, who for the most part are lamentably ignorant of even the first principles of physiology, for the supply of boots and shoes, there is much difficulty in obtaining those that are really fit to wear, and it was only after some search that I succeeded in finding a firm who were in the habit of producing healthy boots for adults, and would agree to make boots and shoes suitable for children on the principles I advocate, and under my direction in cases of difficulty.
After what I have said and am about to say-concerning children, it will be evident that it is even more important for them than for adults that their feet should be properly clad, yet whenever I have spoken to a bootmaker on the subject, he has shown me certain abominations always kept in stock, and the type of which must be familiar to every one, and has said, "We very rarely make boots for children; ladies prefer to buy them ready-made, and save expense."
This matter, however, is one in which money ought not to be saved at the expense of health and future suffering to the little ones. It will be a comfort, however, to those who are anxious to save expense to know that stockings and boots when made of good materials and to fit the shape of the foot, wear twice as long as those of ordinary manufacture. For the feet pressed on by ill-fitting boots or stockings struggle against the oppression, and in the endeavour to regain their natural shape wear through their coverings. This is the reason of the common experience that holes in stockings always commence over the big toe.
For adults, either male or female, the boots shown in Figs. 24 and 25 are to be highly recommended, and they are in accordance with all the principles of construction which I have laid down.6[5]
These boots, called the "Hygeia" boots, were invented and registered a few years back by Messrs. Marshall and Burt, of 444, Oxford Street, W., and are far superior to any I have seen elsewhere. They should of course be made in most cases to fit the wearer, from proper measurements on lasts, which should be retained for future use, and from these lasts boot-trees should be constructed; but many people have feet which can be fitted from stock, and this saves expense. Boot-trees are a great save to boots, as when not in wear the boots are kept in shape by them, and when the boots are cleaned they prevent the servant from soiling the insides.
I am glad to say that the above-mentioned well-known firm also supply children's boots and shoes
On pp. 106, 107 I have made some observations on the construction of boots for young children, and the children's "Hygeia" boot, shown in Fig. 26, will be found a very useful one for boys or girls.
Continuing my remarks on p. 107, I may observe that surgical boots do much towards the remedy of deformities in their early stages, but it is most imperative that such boots should be made by firms experienced in the work, and who will fit and contrive for each child what it requires.
Flat-foot, as that very common deformity, caused by the yielding of the plantar arch is generally called, usually occurs either when the child is put on its feet too young, or about the age of fourteen when growth is very rapid and muscular weakness is experienced. In these cases the arch should be supported by a properly-shaped pad fixed into the boot, and as the constitution becomes stronger the deformity will pass away, unless it has been too long neglected. Neither ricketty legs nor yielding plantar-arches are strengthened by tightly laced boots, and although ignorant bootmakers will frequently recommend them, they must be strictly avoided, for what the muscles of the foot and leg want is freedom of action, not compression, which will impair their development.
That very rare thing a well-formed foot in middle life is nearly straight on the inside from the heel to the tip of the big toe; but in infancy the great toe stands out from the others, giving a wider spread to the toes, so that the inside of the foot is concave. At this early period the various parts of the foot are soft and pliant, they are growing very rapidly,and are easily injured by pressure of any kind, Hence the shoemaker has to provide a proper width for the spread of the toes, and must also take into consideration the curve of the inside of the foot, while allowing for the softness, elasticity, and mobility of the parts, and for the increasing size of the foot, both in length, breadth, and thickness. Yet this is just the time when the little one's feet are crammed into ready-made boots or shoes utterly unfitted for their requirements. Over-large stockings form into folds on the feet, and are very uncomfortable, while over-large boots chafe the stocking and the foot, and are liable to turn over in walking, causing stumbling and sometimes a sprain of the ankle. Throughout the whole period of growth stockings and boots should be worn as large as possible, without rucking or shuffling. They should be as light as possible, so as not to encumber the growing muscles, and the material of which they are made should be elastic. They must be given up when they begin to pinch the toes, and turn them from their normal position.
Both feet should be invariably carefully measured when fitted for boots, as very frequently, although no difference between them may be apparent to the eye, the respective measurements will be found to differ considerably. I have often heard it said by bootmakers that one foot is generally larger than the other.
Stockings, if in a minor degree than boots, are still to a great extent responsible for deformities of the toes.
The woollen shoe or sock for the baby is too often narrowed to a point at the toes, or at best rounded to the shape of a blunt wedge, so that the tiny sprawling, out-spreading toes are not only cramped in the movements that are necessary for their healthy development, but are wedged together with the great and little toes approached to one another, and thus the foundation is laid for deformity, afterwards to be perfected by the narrow-toed boot of later life.
I have sometimes seen these little shoes or socks so short for the baby that its toes have been quite doubled up by them. In crocheting or knitting the babies' stockings such as I have described on pp. 67, 68, care must be taken to allow for the outspread of the toes, the growth of the foot, and the shrinking which may take place when the little woollen garments are washed.
I may here observe that they should be washed in nearly cold water, stretched with the hands before being hung up to dry, and allowed to become as dry as possible before being finally aired by the fire. These remarks apply to all woollen clothes which have a tendency to shrink when washed, a tendency which the above plan will check as far as possible.
At a later stage, when shoes or boots are worn, and stockings are no longer as a rule made at home, there is greater difficulty in obtaining suitable foot-coverings.
All stockings ordinarily sold are rounded at the toes, and tend to divert the great toe from the straight line it should occupy. It is, however, of great importance that the stockings should be straight on the inner side, so as not to deform the great toes, and if such stockings cannot be bought ready-made, they must be specially manufactured or knitted at home. If the demand for them becomes sufficiently general, the supply will soon follow. Failing these plans, however, ordinary stockings may be bought a couple of sizes too large for the one who is to wear them, and then cut to the proper shape and carefully sewn at the edge with darning wool.
It may perhaps be thought that it is sufficient safeguard to have the stockings over-large; but it is not so, for in putting on the boot or shoe the toes are forced down to the end of the stocking, and the loose part of the stocking at the heel only makes matters worse by pressing the foot forward into the boot.
There is much to be said in favour of stockings made with toes, as gloves are made with separate stalls for the fingers, and these are especially desirable when the toes have already been deformed by improper clothing, and in cases where the feet perspire offensively. In ordinary cases, however, it is quite sufficient if the stocking is straight on the inside and does not press the toes in any way. If the foot is placed on a piece of paper and the body supported upon it, the foot can be pencilled round and an outline obtained on the paper, which will serve as a guide for the shape of the stocking and of the boot. The outlines of both feet should be taken in the same way, so that both may be properly fitted.
Children are more liable to have ill-fitting boots than adults, because whereas adults, if they are sensible, will, when trying on boots, exclaim when they feel painful pressure on any part of the foot, and insist on having something more comfortable, the child, whose new boots are a size larger than the old ones, finds relief in them, and only discovers their fault too late when the growing foot finds the uppers rigid and hard, and the toes are again compressed. By this means the process of deforming the foot is rendered gradual and less painful than might be supposed from the degree of harm done.
As yet I have said nothing about in-door shoes, although they are quite as important, if not more important, than out-door shoes and boots, since they are generally worn for a greater number of hours in the day. To get rationally-shaped house or dancing shoes I have found a literal impossibility, owing to the fact that showy and fashionable-looking shoes are made and imported at such low prices that few shoemakers will go to the expense of keeping a stock of properly-constructed articles. The harm done by those pointed-toed patent leather shoes which one can get so cheap is incalculable, and their effects are seen every day in hospital and private practice. An eminent surgeon, my friend Mr. R. Fitzroy Benham, tells me that when a student at one of the chief London hospitals he extracted very many ingrowing toe-nails, and a great number of these were cases of ladies'-maids and servants, who, either wearing their mistresses' cast-off shoes or aping the fashions of their betters, suffer extremely through having to be on their feet all day when those feet are crammed into tight and ill-shaped coverings. To extract ingrowing toe-nails the patient is deeply anaesthetized owing to the extreme sensitiveness of the matrix of the nail, the nail is then seized with a forceps and literally dragged out by main force, leaving a sore and tender surface, which renders the foot useless for long after the operation. In private practice Mr. Benham tells me he never extracts the nail, but treats it by cutting the margins with a knife specially made for the purpose, and the application of lunar caustic; but as this line of treatment takes time it cannot be practised in hospitals, where the beds are always crowded with more serious cases.
This little description of one of the evils of ill-shaped shoes should prove a deterrent from using them, but if I were to describe all the harm they do I should have to devote a whole book to the subject.
In-door and dancing-shoes should be made on the same principles as out-door foot-gear, and they can be prettily trimmed or embroidered, as there is no reason that because they are comfortable they should be ugly, as may be seen from Fig. 27.
Very many girls suffer from cold feet, and this trouble is frequently traceable to wearing thin low-cut shoes or slippers in the house. It is very important, especially in the case of young girls, that the feet should be kept warm and dry. Hence thin shoes should not be worn out of doors, and in-door shoes should not be cut too low. A very good plan is to wear old summer boots in-doors in the winter; but excellent house-shoes and boots may be made of cashmere lined with flannel.
For out-door wear in winter and cold climates boots may be lined with swan's down, and I have found this plan very good, as the feet are kept warm and chilblains prevented. The subjoined picture (Fig. 28) represents a very comfortable and pretty winter boot lined in this way and trimmed with fur. It can be made in all sizes for children as well as ladies, and when made for little boys or girls it can be buttoned higher up the leg than is shown in the illustration.
Before quitting this branch of my subject I feel that I ought to say something about corns, for this matter will, unfortunately, have a personal interest for most people.
When speaking of the skin and its functions (Chapter II.) I mentioned the cuticle, scarf-skin or outer skin (pp. 21, 22), which is given off in fine scales from the inner or sensitive layer, which it serves to protect. It is a beautiful example of the adaptability of Nature to adverse circumstances that the cuticle becomes thickened when the true skin is subject to continued dangers. Thus the cuticle is thickest on the soles of the feet, which are always subject to pressure from the ground, similarly the cuticle of the hands of mechanics, and those who in their trades are obliged to handle rough, hot, or poisonous substances becomes thickened, and being itself insensitive and bloodless, protects the true skin, and enables it to continue its important functions unharmed. In a similar manner hard patches are formed by the thickening of the cuticle on the finger of the sempstress, and on the fingers of those who play on stringed instruments, and these patches coincide with the part which comes in contact with the needle or strings. These portions of thickened cuticle are in reality corns, and they are formed on the feet in order to protect the true skin from the pressure of an ill-made boot, or from any roughness on the inside.
This being so, it is evident that to talk of the "root" of a corn, and of extracting the same as chiropodists do, is pure quackery. The corn is really a natural protection, and to have it cut or dragged out is not only dangerous but useless, for if the cause continues it must grow again. The only way to get rid of corns is to wear properly-fitting boots, and then the corn no longer being required will go away of itself, the thickened layers of cuticle will separate from the skin. This separation may be assisted by soaking the feet in hot water, and after this the corn can be removed with the fingers. Speaking of the skin of the feet leads me to the subject of the ventilation of boots, which is a very difficult one.
I have said (p. 24) that the perspiratory glands are more numerous on the soles of the feet than on any other part of the body, with the exception of the palms of the hands; hence in the clothing of these parts good facilities for evaporation and transpiration ought to be afforded; but to do this is well-nigh impossible, owing to the fact that it is necessary to protect the feet from injury by contact with stones, broken glass, tacks, and pins, &c. If we could go without boots or shoes entirely the skin of the feet would manufacture a protection for them in the same way as I have above described, by a process of thickening and hardening. As it is, however, boots and shoes are a necessary evil, and we must, therefore, try to make them as little of an evil as possible. Perhaps the most practicable way of allowing for the ventilation of out-door boots is to have merely a golosh of leather affixed to the sole, and the upper part of the boot entirely of cloth. Shoes, leaving the upper part of the foot exposed, of course afford better facilities for transpiration than boots made entirely of leather, and they may be worn in winter with cloth gaiters. For summer wear the uppers of the boots may be made of cashmere. Stockings should always be woollen, and boots and shoes should also be lined with woollen materials if practicable. When the feet are warm and damp from exercise, the stockings and boots should be changed, and even if the stockings are not sufficiently damp with perspiration to render this necessary, it is always a good plan to change the boots or shoes on returning from a walk.
In the house, as I have said, woollen boots and shoes should always be worn, but the difficulty in wearing them out of doors is that they become saturated if the weather is wet. When the feet have thus become wet in bad weather the boots and shoes should be removed immediately on returning home, and the feet dried and rubbed well to promote circulation before dry coverings are put on them. As long as the circulation is kept up by walking, a chill is not likely to result from the feet being wet; but if we sit down to rest with wet feet, the consequences may be dangerous.
The plan of wearing very loose slippers in the house, a plan adopted by many men, is a very good one, especially in warm weather, as it leaves the feet free from pressure, and accessible to the outer air.
It may perhaps be thought that in proportion to the space devoted to other subjects I have given too long consideration to the clothing of the feet; but the matter is one of so great importance that I could have wished to say more about it, for I believe that if people only knew how much harm they are doing to themselves and their children by their general treatment of the feet they would at once adopt more rational principles. On all those who lament that painful feet, disinclination for exercise, and other affections such as I have described in earlier parts of this volume are some of the "ills that flesh is heir to," I would fain impress the advice of Milton:—
- Accuse not Nature, she hath done her part;
- Do thou but thine.
- ↑ 1 See Plate 7, which is by no means an exaggerated example of the cramming process.
- ↑ 2 See Plate 6.
- ↑ 3 Lancet, June 21st, 1884.
- ↑ 4 See Lancet, June 21, 1884, pp. 1113—1115. Mr. Ellis, M.R.C.S., "On Physiology of the Feet,"
- ↑ 5 The proper position of the foot, as in these boots, may be seen in Plate 8, Fig. A,