Morning journal and courier., 1882-06-16
The Feminine Foot.
How H. Made Caters Dancing q nd Rope Skipping Destroy the Arch or the Insrep.
 

How Il-Made Caters. Dancing and Rope
 Skipping Destroy the Arch Of the Instep.
 [From the New York Eorld-J
 One of the oldest orthopedic surgeons in New York told a reporter that the number of cases of splayed feet in this city was large and rapidly increasing
 What in the world are isplayed feet 2 asked the reporter
 Why, splayed foot is flat foot, or one in which the arch of the instep has been brok- GU down"
 Pray, why should people living in the city ot New York break down the arches of their insteps2'
 They do it by wearing high-heeled shoes. Of course, l am speaking of young girls and misses and not of grown-up persors of either sex. Now, the misses and young ladies of France wear heels that are even higher than we are accustomed to wear in this country. But the heel of the French shoe is placed wellforward, almost under the middle of the foot, so that the arch or instep is supported just as the span of bridge is sustained by tower or abutment under the middle of the span Our shoemakers place the heel further back This lengthens the span and increases the strain.
 broken down insteps ?''
 ''They are by means uncommon They are almost exclusively confined to females and the weaker the general constitution the more likely IS the foot to suffer"
 What is the difference in the appearance Of pair Of feet that are splayed and pair that are not splayed?"
 "Al the difference in the world The nat ural foot Is beautifully srched in the center, especially in females. A person who has a high instep has as good right to be proud of 1t as any person with classic features has to be proud of the image that he sees reflected when he looks at the mirror. Spayed foot ia &ha z of the European countries where the people are obliged to do hard work, such as carrying heavy burdens at very early age. In such cases, especially if the child is poorly fed or naturally weak, the fragments sustaining the arch of the foot are very apt to give way by degrees, and then we have a pair of feet as flat as the paw of grizzly bear. And yet should hardly make such a comparison, for broken down foot Is worse than flat it curves the other way, that the toes are always pointing upwards" =
 And the cause of this deformity is entire ly attributable to the defective construction of high heeled shoes?"
 No, not entirely. [ think it is sometimes produced by children beginning to dance al- most as soon as they are able to walk, such as we see ln some German communities In dancing the little youngster sometimes sus-@ taips the whole weight of the body on the tips of the toes quarter of an hour at a 5tAoeSA- 1Ao OOucS dt age are utL4G less than cartilage, and can very easily be de- formed. As proof of this you have only to recollect the Chinese practice of skaping the feet of their female children. I suppose the feet of young girls of tender constitution are also sometimes injured in jumping the rope especially in such trials of endurance where they pit themselves to see who can jump the greatest number of times without stop ping"
 How about roller skating, which has late ly become so popular ?'
 "There can be no doubt that a little exer- else each day at roller skating would strength en and invigorate the muscles of the legs But the trouble Is, the girls we see playing st roller skating on the sidewalks and in the parks are allowedto greatly overdo the busi- ness. The result is that instead of we'll rounded, plump, muscular limbs, re see, after few weeks practice, pair of attenn- ated broom sticks accompanied by wan expression of the countenance and an unnatu- ral nervousness of the whole organization Oh, if the people of this world would only make use of the common sense with which kind nature has endowed them ,"