San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-08-01
FACTS ABOUT FEET.
The Power of the Big Toe and
the Use Made of It,
From the Washington STAR

ness?" said a well-kuown scientist
to a Star reporter. And yet to the
anatomist it is a revelation. Take,
for example, the tootsies of a child
of ten months that has never walked
or stood alone. 1t has power OF
grasping to some extent and is used
instinctively like hand. The great
toe has certain independent work
ing, like a thumb, and the wrinkles
of the sole resemble those of the
palm. These markings almost en-
tirely disappear after the pedal ex-
tremity has come to be employed for
purposes of support and locomotion.
THE hands and feet of human
being are strikingly like those ofthe
chimpanzee in conformation, while
the gorilla's resemblance to man in
these respects is even more remark
able. The higher apes have been
classified as "quadrumana," or
'four-handed,' because their hind
feet are Handicapped; but this des-
ignation is very improperly applied,
because the apes posterior extremi-
ties are not really hands at all. They
merely look like hands at the first
glance, whereas in fact they are
but feet adapted for climbing. The
big toes can not be opposed to the
other toes as thumbs are to the fin
gers, but simply act pincerwise for
the purpose Of grasping. Now,
funnily enough, the infants feet
have this same power of grasping
pincer-fashion, and the action is
performed in precisely the same
way. Advocates of evolutionary
theories take this to signify that the
human foot was originally utilized
tor climbing trees also before the
species was so highly developed as
it is now. Also they assert that the
fact that the art of walking erect is
learened by the child with such diff
Guilty proves that the race has only
acquired it recently.
There are many scientists now
adays who contend that man is not
structurally adapted to walking on
two feet, and that this habit is re-
sponsible for the frequency of rup-
ture in the male and of uterus com
plants in the female. If this most
interesting of animals went on all
fours, they say, the strong abdomi
nal walls would properly uphold
the internal organs. Also they find
confirmation of their theories in the
fact that the foot of the unborn in
FAINT IS very like that of the anthro-
poid apes, lacking development at
the heel,
However all this may be, there
is no doubt of the fact that the pow
er of the great tee for grasplng and
other services may be preserved and
developed after infancy if the foot
is not confined. Many savage people
make considerable use of the foot
for handy purposes. Australian
natives employed the grasping pow
er of their great toes in climbing
trees, and it is their habit to pick
upin the same way spears and other
objects from the ground. Nubian
horsemen hold the reins with their
big toes, and Chinese boatmen pull
their oars by the same means. Per
sons born without hands often use
their feet for nearly every object
that hands ordinarily serve for,
threading needles with their toes
using scissors, writing, etc. tits q
very interesting thing to examine
the skeletons of a human foot anc
hand side by side, and to observe
how the two structures are absolute