Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-02-02
HOW WE STAND AND WALK.

lean institute BY Prot. Burt G. Wilder.l
TIE second of the course Of scientific
lectures before the American Institute was
delivered on the evening of Dec. 81. by
prof. Burt G. Wilder of the Cornell Uni
versity. The lecture was illustrated by
diagrams and experiments.
Alter somewhat humorous introduce
t;on the lecturer contrasted the walking of
men with that of brutes. He said:
You will notice in menageries that the
tallest apes are obliged to walk upon their
feet as we should walk upon the hands,
with the great toe standing out from the
side of the foot, and the heel 90 short that
it has not the power of supporting the
body that our heel has. Here is diagram
of the skeleton of the foot of man, and
you see that the heel is long and strong
that the bones forming the arch of the
foot are strongly put together. The great
standing and in walking. If any of lis
have lost our great toes we should find
Immediately how difficult it is to balance
ourselves upon our feet, because with man
the use Of the great toe lies In the propul-
sion of the body upon the feet, whereas in
the gorilla the great toe stands out from
the side of the foot like thumb, and has
no mower whatever of supporting the
hody or propelling it like the man.
IN Chaillu tells wonderful stories of
the grasping power Of this hind hand of
the ane in which respect mans foot bears
no comparison to it. Now, again, if you
wish to see man at a disadvantage you
have only to place him on all fours, and
make him walk like an ape. The lee
turer then made diagram of man in
this position, which provoked considerable
amusement.1 The head now hangs for
wards as great weight, requiring muscles
which we do not possess, to support it.
The curve in the back, and the limbs are
so arranged that the knee itself touches
the ground, our thighs being much longer
than the corresponding bones in the upper
arm; and we have to raise the thighs so
that the feet may touch the ground. You
must not, however, forget that there was q
time when we all went in this way or at
tempted to do So t.r
| cannot help here abiding to one thing,
although, God be thanked! the necessity
for it has almost passed out of date-the
fact that some among the human race who
have considered themselves even most re-
fined and civilized, have, for various rea-
sons and by various means, initiated some
of the lower animals in their attitudes.
If YOU were here to draw a human head
and face with small jaws like this exhibit
ing head, and put on the back Off a great
we should simply have the belle
of the period in the position which she is
obliged, by the very force of gravity, to
assume in order to support this ponderous
mass upon the back Of her head. There
is an old saying, that lone good turn de,
serves another" / should change it in
this case by saying that zone ill bend pro-
vokes another" In this nineteenth Gen.
fury we have adopted what was originally
the monkey bend, and not Grecian, or
any other kind of bend.
There are several things to be said re-
specting the human foot, which is, Of all
the parts of the body, the least noticed.
1t is covered up, and not exposed, at all
times, like the hands. 1t has degrading
Office, inasmuch as it is obliged to support
the entire body upon it; and yet there are
many things in the foot well worthy of
QUE consideration. Diagram of foot,
showing the way the bones are Joined to
form the arch, was exhibited and the man
ner in which the body is supported was de-
scribed. Now, in order that we should
stand, it Is necessary not merely that we
shall be put up in an erect position-l
might manufacture pole representing
man, and set it upright; but how long do
you suppose it would maintain its posi-
ton? Not at all. 1t would tOpple over.
We do not realize the attention which is
required of the mind to enable us to stand
upright; yet there is constant, although
attention of the brain, with
out which we could not maintain an erect
And the muscles which lie along
the legs, and which may be seen in the
diagram, are in constant action. Ii you
will stand on tiptoe, and let rerson feel
the muscles of the leg, they will be found
in constant activity. There is movement
among them some are falling backwards
and some forwards, yet all SO adapted to
each other that we are enabled to stand
upright. &<ll
When we wish to lift ourselves upon
tiptoe, then those muscles which are at
tached here lat the heeD contract with
greater force. In ballet dancers and tight
rope walkers there is an immense develp-
ment of the muscles of the calf, and in
deed of the entire leg The muscles at
tached to the end Of the heel contract, the
the foot itself resting upon the ground,
and form lever of the second kind, as it
Is called, thus hosting the body upon the
toe and the muscles which are required to
keep the body on tiptoe are more than we
1are enumerate almost.
Mans foot is called plantigrade foot;
hat is, a foot which has the whole sole flat
upon the earth. There is one other beast
"A very respectable one in his way, which
has also plantigrade foot, and that is the
bear; but the bears foot and methood
If using it differ from mans, and his
method of using it, in this respect-that
whereas as we walk we strike first the heel,
md then roll forward upon the toe Of each
DOT alternately, the bear lifts the whole of
IF the foot together and puts it down fiat,
N precisely the same way that a negro
,log dancer does. The bear has not the
power to put down his heel first and then
-oll forward and give a spring as we do,
,ut it puts it'down flat, as any one of us
would if we had a wooden leg. SO that
here is difference both in the structure
and method of using, this useful member.
This brings US now to the subject Of
walking itself which is properly the sub
ject OF the present lecture. l might
take it up from half a dozen different
points Of view. After thinking the matter
over have concluded TO approach II with
q Il H. 49, IL