The feet of Chinese women offer another illustration along this line. Although they have been tightly bound for many generations, no deformity is apparent in the feet of girl babies.

Breeders are generally of the opinion that good care and feed bestowed on their stock produce results in succeeding generations. This is in a way true, but it is due merely to the fact that the offspring get better nourishment and therefore a better start in life. The changes in breeds, the increase in milk yield, and similar facts, often explained as due to inheritance of acquired characters, are better explained as the results of selection, sometimes conscious, sometimes quite unconscious.

BOUND FOOT OF A CHINESE WOMAN

Fig. 5.—For centuries the feet of upper class women, and many lower class women, in China have been distorted in this manner; but their daughters have perfect feet when born.

DEFECTIVE LITTLE TOE OF A PREHISTORIC EGYPTIAN

Fig. 6.—The above illustration shows the foot of a prehistoric Egyptian who is estimated to have lived about 8000 B. C. The last joint of the little toe had entirely disappeared, and careful dissection leaves no doubt that it was a germinal abnormality, such as is occasionally seen to-day, and not the result of disease. It is, therefore, evident that the degeneration of man's little toe must be ascribed to some more natural cause than the wearing of shoes for many generations. Photograph from Dr. Gorgy Sobhy, School of Medicine, Cairo.