The morning call., 1893-07-23

and nerve-exhaustI on OF our people. Most
of us walk on our heels. il the appearance
of our shoes is any criterion of our meth cd
of lOcOmotioD. and the continuous jar
transmitted through the spinal cord to the
brain at every conclusion of the heel with
the sidewalk would be sufficient, in the
course of year or two, to knock to pieces
almost any strong machine. 1 have seen
nervous, irritable. invalid women trudging.
year after year. to physicians offices for
treatment for the evils produced by that
very ak. and who might become we'll,
strong and happy. merely by learning to
walk on the balls of their feet.
Then there is the unpleasant. writhing
walk OF those sorts and conditions of men
in whom the physical life predomina tes,
noticeable in the African and IL the South
Sea Islanders. For some occult reas on
this wiggle seems lately to have found
favor in the eyes of many OF our American
women. or else the peculiarly atrocious
style of skirt. glove-fitting at the hips and
so lined and cut as to whip unpleasantly
and dangerously about the knees. cOmpels
them to sQuirm rather than walk in their
efforts to progress in straight line.
Isaw noted pugiist walking the other
day. His method Of locomotion was pecu-
liar. He was tall, magnificently developed
ders. but singularly handy about the
legs. He swung and rocked from the
waist up as though his pelvis were a pivot
on which his body balanced and he walked
in a loose-jonted, dislocated sort of way.
bending at the knees aud thro wing his
legs forward as if they were hung on
hinges. swinging his arms and squaring
his elbows as though he were sparrlng at
some unseen foe. His whole makeup and
manner was less suggestive of man than
OF a great ape-a likeness that was iu-
creased by his small head, prominent jaw,
receding forehead AID a certain curious
way he had of working his mouth, singu-
larly suggestive of possibility of his
teeth becoming at times a weapon of de-
fense.
There has been a good deal of discussion
recently as to whether. in the ages long
since forgotten, man was Quadruped
This same habit he has so universally of
swinging his arms as he walks is thought
by some to be a survival of the days when
were organs of locomotion. 1t Is we'll
known fact that this swing of the arms
does not aid locomotion. Your trained
runner keeps his arms close at his sides.
1t is noticeable. too, that the arms move in
conjunction with the leg Of the opposite
side. Thus, as a man moves his left leg
forward his right arm swings ahead. just
as any Quadruped in walking moves for
ward his left hind leg and right fore leg at
the same time. This movement of the
arm some contend is a survival OF the time
when man trOtted about on all fours. be-
fore he had arisen to his hind legs and ar
rived at articulate speech.
There is. however, another theory than
this advanced to account for our prOneness
to move our arms when we walk. despite
long training by the instructors of youth
and patient effort on the part of those OF
us who in mature years desire to walk
gracefully and keep the superfluously
moving organs in subsection.
This theory admits that the movement
OF the arms in walking is Of atavlStic
significance. but contends that it points not
to descent from earth-walking Quadrupeds.
but from arbOreal ancestry. In a word.
tho swinging out of the arms as the feet
advance, the well-known tendency Of the
human species to throw up the arms and
clutch even at straws when in danger Of
drowning. and 10 raise the arms when any
1anger threatens are regarded by
Professor LOUIS Robinson as tendencies
surviving In the race from the davs when
our anceS 0rs. the arboreal apes. climbed
and reached after their food and sought
SAFETY In trees when any danger assailed
them. The action of q non-swimmer in
water is eminently suggestive of this. He
does not. as every other animal seems able
to DO. move legs and arms in the water ex-
actly as though on land. This is the instinct
OF every animal except man. Swimming
for them is merely walking in the water
they do 1t ins.inctively. walking or run
ming being their instructive mode OF escap-
ing Danger; but man instinctlvely climbs.
and unless he has artifcially learned to
swim he will drown If he is lot supported.
Vho rAng-outhng. the gibbOn and tho