The daily gazette., 1878-08-29
The Truth About Byron's Feet.
THE AFFICTIoNs ARoUT WHICH TAE
PoET WAS MoRBIDLY SENSITIVE
UNTIL THE LAST.

UNTIL THE LAST.
London Athenaum.l
ApeIson well acquainted with the NAL
formation of the feet writes thus "In
the desire to convict Mr.. Trelawny of in
consistency of selfcontraction in his ac-
count of Lord Byron's lameness and its
cause, the writer of the article 'Sbelley's
Last Days in the FortnighHy Reeiew on
June l, has been betrayed into an error,
from which a better acquaintance with
the subject would have saved him. In
the first edition of the 'Recollections of
Byron and Shelley 1868, Mr.. Trelawny
states the fact that both Byron's feet
were dubbed and his legs wthered to the
knee And in the second edition 1873,
Mr.. Trelawny explains the cause of By
ron's lameness to have been the contrac-
ton of the back sinew, which the doctors
call "Tendo Achillis,' that prevented his
heels resting on the ground, and compell-
ed him to walk on the fore part of his
feet; except this defect his feet were per-
feet Now, there is neither contradiction
or inconsistency in these two statements !;
quite the contrary; and any one at all ac-
quainted with the nature of the deformity
generally known as 'club-foot,' will find
in the statement of 1878, strictly correct
and concise explanation and confirma-
tion of the fact told by Mr.. Trelawny in
1858.
"All affections of the feet resulting from
contraction of the 'fendo Achillis' are
classed under the generic term of club
foot although it is well known that this
contraction manifests in three distinct
forms, owing probably to the degree of
intensity of the contraction. The most
common and marked of these is the roal
'club foot where the contraction of the
'Tendo Achllis' is so violent as not only
to draw up the heel, but also to turn the
foot inward and the sole upward, SO that
the unfortunate individual thus affected
walks on the outer edge of the fore part
OF the foot, where a callous lumpis form
ed that serves him both as heel and sole.
In the less common sort of club-foot,
caused by less violent contraction ofthe
tendon, the heel only is drawn up, thus
compelling the individual to walk on the
fore part of his feet, which are otherwise
in no way deformed. This kind of club
lDOJ 10 Cdiltu ny bllt uDCJDTS tS eVulIluS,
and it was this kind with which Lord
Byron was afflicted more markedly in one
foot. In both kinds of cub-foot the
muscles of the calf shrink away from
want of free action, and thus the leg
presents exactly the appearance described
by Mr.. Trelawny in the case of Lord
Byron, This legs withered to the knee"
al say nothing of the third and COM
paratively rare kind of club foot, where
the sole of the foot is turned outward
and upward, as that has no bearing
upon the question at Issue. Had surgi-
cal science been as far advanced at the
lime of Lord Byron's childhood as it was
shortly after his dea'h, when Stromeyer
of Hanover introduced his admirable
operation for the cure of club foot by
cutting the contracted tendon Lord
Byron would certainly have been cured
of his defect and his poetical genius
would doubtless have been materially
modified thereby"
When his valet, Fletcher. noticed me
contemplating the poets feet, he said
"That was the cause of all my lords mis-
| fortunes" This was comprehe vt
assertion, and / knew it to be true, fol
| the defect was ever present to the poets
| mind, and influenced all his actions ant
his writings, and was ndver absent from
his thoughts. This conviction made i
imperative on me to mention it.