Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1892-10-21
A BABES FOOTPRINTS
SIMILARITY OF THE SOLE OF AN
INFANTS FOOT AND PALM.

Investigations show That the Youn
Foot Has characteristics That Are Pre-
hensile--The Sole, of Monkeys Feet
Interesting Observations.
| Bret Harte's miner. who, after his In
terview with the babe whose advent hat
been matter of such interest to the occu
pants of Roaring Camp, held up his hngel
snd remarked, "He wrastled with it," l.
now cited by the learned in science a.
having expressed significant biological
| truth. The singular clinging power OF an
| infants fingers must have been observed
| by any one who has been subjected to that
species of violence The babe can have ne
| use for any such strength, and this excess
| of power is said by the evolutionists to be
| a quality which the race acquired when it
| lived among the branches of trees, and has
not yet lost.
| Dr. Louis Robinson has published an
account of some experiments which he had
made upon this subject. These expert
ments were made in the cases of more than
sixty children, all of whom were under a
month old, and ut least half Of whom had
been less than one hour in the world. With
able to hold onto a finger or a stick three
quarters of an inch in diameter by their
hands, hanging as if from horizontal bar,
and sustaining the whole weight of their
bodies for a: least ten seconds.
The same writer has contributed to The
Nineteenth Century an article on the foot
of baby, with the intention of showing
that its characteristics are prehensile. He
says that there are two classes of feet,
those which are used only for progression
and those which have more complex
functions. In the first class come all the
hoofed animals. The construction of the
foot in this class is simple, as its functions
are simple 1t has to sustain the weight of
the animal, and is therefore very robust, a
characteristic for which man has found an
artificial substitute in the boot. Among
feet of the second kind would be those of
cats, for instance, which have, besides the
power of locomotion, claws with which to
climb.
The apes, by reason of the very complex
functions and construction of the foot,
would have special claim to be put in
this class. Climbing with claws is simply
walking, with the added power to drive
the claws into the bark. But the feet of
monkey in the branches of tree running
away from cat or snake have much
more difficult and complicated offices to
perform. The foot of a monkey must be
to seize at almost any angle a
branch of tree with firm grasp Or in an
instant to clasp IA spray of fine twigs and
cling to them.
Now, although the foot of man is at
present used only for locomotion, it has
the same complicated system of muscles
that the hand has. 1t has indeed the same
there being only one muscle in
the hard, small one with no attachment
to the bone, for which there is not CORE
spending muscle in the foot But how is
it that these muscles, which are for the
most part useless, remain part of the
human anatomy? The answer of the eyo
utionist is that any part of the animal
which has become inbred remains
after it has ceased to be useful, unless 1t
should be injurious and the human foot is
said not to be injurious
But the feet of very young infants have
resemblance to those of monkeys which
idult feet do not have. In the first place.
he toes OF babies are more easily moved
han those of adults. The great toe is
shorter than the second and third, and ia
separated from the other toes bya wide in |
erval. A very young baby often holds |
lis foot very like a fist, the four outer toes |
being bent downward and showing a die
met knuckle on the other upper side, and
he great toe being bent and turned in
ward across the sole. When the foot il in
his position the great and little toes an.
roach under the others, and DR.. Robinson
las seen one baby in whom they very near
touched. Any slight irritation of the
KIN OF the sole of the foot will cause the
nfant to close the toes as if to CRASH the
blect which has caused the irritation.
Moreover, a close examination of tbo cola
I an infants foot shows that it contains
ines just like those of the palm of the
and. When the toes are bent dovvn,vard
nese become creases, showing the natural
'iuing places OF the lntegument, when the
ct OF grasping takes place. Dr. Robinson
as examined these lines on the feet of
cry large number of infants first taking
monographs of the feet and later (which
iound much better) impressions of the
rants feet on paper. Some of these i'm
ressions show very distinct lines which
le writer says correspond closely to the
mes which in palmistry are the Cline If
le heart" the LINE of head, and ~
line of life" 'ne
These lines disappear almost as soon nc
he children begin to walk. They can
arcely be seen at fourteen months and
It only present IN few cases after the in
mt has reached two years. In adnlts M
ace Is to be seen of them when the foot ;s
rest, and only the faintest indications
hen the toes are bent to the ntmost
mere Is no analogous case among the 9th. {
animals of handlike lines eyisting nn i
e feet in infancy and disappearing Later
But 90 the lines which Dr. Robinson has =
una on the feet of newborn infants ov;st
the feet of monkeys? The lines on
by's loot are handlike, and indicate .
ehensile utility, and a monkeys feet are
course prehensile, but are the Inc
The writer admits that ha he s
ct with some difficulty in PURSUING h;s r
searches regarding monkeys feet mont il
oojecting strenuously. Moreover tho v
les diifer greatly in the different FAM =
$ OF monkeys. But it was found that =,
higher the ape the more do its foot y
es resemble those of a newborn ipfsnt Ii
ese Investigations tending to confirm tha p
, =, ~ theory of the origin and his. a
y oil man.-New York Times p