Fig. 5.
The great toe ought, therefore, to have such a position as will admit of its being unrolled in the manner described; that is to say, it must so lie that the line of its axis, when, carried backwards, will emerge at the centre of the heel; and this is its position in the healthy foot. The sole of an almost sound foot is given in Fig. 4, and the true position of the great toe is indicated by the dotted line. This relation is still better brought out in Fig. 5, which represents the well-preserved foot of a child about two years old. The line drawn through both figures is that in which the foot unrolls itself from the ground. The smaller toes, however, are by no means without their uses. In standing they rest on the ground and give lateral support to the foot;
while in walking they are bent in a peculiar manner, so that they are firmly pressed against the ground; and here too they support the foot laterally. The first joint is strongly bent upwards, while the second is hollow above. This peculiar curvature enables the toe in a measure to lay hold of the ground as with bird’s claws.”
Dr Meyer then proceeds to show how the application of these principles is entirely disregarded in the manufacture of our boots and shoes, and to demonstrate that their neglect gives rise to the objectionable consequences we have before alluded to. As boots and shoes are at present constructed, the foot is made to adapt itself to the sole, not the sole to the foot. This pernicious system must be abandoned if we wish to preserve our feet, as well as our personal comfort.
“A sole,” says Dr Meyer, “is of the proper construction when a line (see Fig. 6, c d) drawn at half the breadth of the great toe distant from, and parallel to, the inner margin of that toe shall, when carried backwards, pass through the centre of the heel. In the usual form of a sole this line passes out of the inner margin of the heel (see Fig. 7). If, then, the preservation of the primary straight line is, as has been already shown, the principal point in the formation of a proper sole, it follows that, if it be thought desirable to have pointed shoes, the pointing must be effected from the outer side, as indicated in the annexed Fig. 8. In a pair of shoes made on these principles, placed side by side with the heels in contact, the inner margins of the front part of the foot are also brought close together” (Fig. 9).
Dr Meyer’s pamphlet contains the following strictures on ‘High heels’ to boots and shoes: “It is usual, in all shoes of even moderate strength, to make the heel a little higher by means of what is called the heel-piece. These heel-pieces are generally of some little use, especially in dirty weather, and we cannot wholly deny their right to existence. But at the same time they ought to be as low as possible, and heels an inch thick, as is at present very commonly the case, have very serious disadvantages indeed.
“The weight of the body is by this means thrown in a disproportionate ratio on the toes, the joints of which are consequently overstrained. Moreover, with a high heel the sole is so oblique in its direction that the foot must be constantly gliding forwards and forcibly pressing the toes into the point of the shoe. The toes, therefore, even when the shoe is sufficiently long, are subjected to the same injuries and disfigurations as if it were too short, and the effects are doubly hurtful when the form of the sole is also incorrect. High heels, especially if they are also very small; are peculiarly liable to wear obliquely, and so the shoe gets trodden on one side; they must, therefore, be peculiarly favorable to origin of flat-foot.
Fig. 6. and Fig. 7.