San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-12-17
TOES INSTEAD ON FINGERS.
Some of the Uses That Educated Toes
Can BE Put To.

Some of the Uses That Educated Toes
Can BE Put To.
1t is astonishing to what uses the
feet and toes could be put if necessity
arose for a full development of their
powers. There is way of educat-
ing the foot, as we'll as the hand or
the eye, and there Is no telling what
an educated foot can be made to do,
In the time of Alexander the Great,
warriors were taught to draw their
bows with their feet, as well as their
hands; and this is done at the present
time by the Rock Veddahs Of Cey-
lon.
Nearly all aborIgines can turn their
toes, not only to good, but to bad &C.
counts. This is especially true of the
natives of Australia, who, while they
are cunningly diverting your atten.
ton with their hands, are busily en-
gagged committing robberies with
their toes, with which they pick up
small articles, as an elephant would
with his trunk.
So. also, the Hindoo makes his toes
work at the loom, using them in his
weaving operations with almost as
much dexterity as he does his fingers.
The Chinese carpenter when he is
planning piece of wood always holds
it with his feet. He also turns
grindstOne aud does many other
kinds of work in the same manner.
The Banaka tribe, the most famous
canoe.men OH the west African coast,
will impel their light canoes with
great velocity over the waves, and at
the same time use the feet to ball out
the water that happens to be dashed
over the sides of the light craft. If,
from any cause, Banaka breaks or
loses his oars, he throws his legs over
the sides of the boat, aud propels it
almost as fast with his feet as he
could with the padles.
NJ. Ducornet, who died in France
in 1862, was born without arms or
hands. He had the eye of an artist,
and, Notwithstanding his great mis-
fortune, actually studied painting,
and exhibited many fine productions
wholly executed with his toes.
The feet of Thomas Roberts, the
armless huntsman, once in the en-
ploy of Sir George Barlow, were made
to serve the place of hands. Ro-
berts manufactured most of the in
struments which he used while on
the chase, and could shoot or throw
with az much precision as the average
hunter in possession OF both arms and
hands.
The same may be said of VIM.
Kinstone an Engllshman, who kept
his own accounts, shaved and dressed
himself, saddled ana oridled his
norse, .nrew sledge hammers and
did other seemingly impossible things
with bis toes.
AS TO national characteristics in
feet it may be said that the French
foot is narrow and long, the Spanish
foot is small and elegantly curved
thanks to it's Moorish blood--corres-
pondipg to the Castilian's pride of
being "high in the instep."
The Arabs foot IL proverbial for
it's high arch. The Koran says that
q stream of water can run under the
true Arabs foot without touching it.
The foot of the Scotch is high and
thick: that of the Irish, fiat and
square; the English, short and fleshy.
When Athens was in her zenith the
Greek foot was the most perfectly
formed and exactly proportioned of
that of any of the human race.
Swedes, Norwegians and Germans
have the largest feet; Americans the
smallest. Russian toes are "webbed"
to the first joint; Tartarian toes are
all the same length.