The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1893-10-14
FEET HAVEN'T CHANGED.
Comparison With Greek Casts Show No Ill
Effects Upon Modern Foot Wear.


Effects Upon Modern Foot Wear.
A study of feet and toes in the casts
of the museum is uncommonly interest
ing and instructive. The Greek statu-
ary, much of it dated centuries before
Christ, seems to prove that the Greeks
had feet much like those of modern
New Workers. The most beautiful of
Greek feet are followed out well, both
inside and out. They have short heels,
high insteps, and long, straight toes,
slightly spatulate at the ends. That is
the type of the most beautiful modern
foot. 1t is on the whole, foot not
frequently seen in its perfection, for
often one or the other element of beauty
is wanting. The rarest point of beauty
is the following of the outside of the
foot. 1t used to be that the shoemak-
ers' lasts were made upon Greek princi-
pies, but for several years lastmakers
have been making hump on the out
side of the last just above the point
where the slight hollow should be. If
any one would convince himself that
the hollow on the outside of the foot is
rare, let him watch the prints that
seaside bathers leave when they step
on dry plank walk. Most of such
footprints show a greater or smaller
hollow on the inside of the foot, but
nearly every one shows straight
wet mark on the outside.
The sandaled feet of the Greek god
desses in marble are much like the feet
OF the modern woman-at any rate, of
the modern infant before the feet have
been modified by leather shoes. All
the goddesses have the fifth toe much
smaller than the others, and in every
instance this toe shows the snail-like
twist SO often ascribed to modern
pointed shoes. The ancient statuary
to be seen in New York chiefly in casts,
whether of male or of female figures,
shows often that contraction of the
toes at the joints usually ascribed to
the wearing of short shoes. Even the
casts of ancient statues of athletes
show this popularity. A few mummi-
fed feet are very modern in form,
though they usually show the effect of
the tight bandages wound about the
corpse.
Many pain tings and statues of several
Italian periods tell the same story as te
the similarity of human feet, ancient
and modern. Such mural decorations
as have been preserved from the walls
of Pompeii show that the models OF
Pompeiian artists had modern feet.
The child Jesus is pictured in many
Italian pictures of 800, 400 and 500 years
ago as having the feet of modern in
fants. The same thing is true of the
feet in carvings, reliefs, and the like
belonging to all ages
Not only does art give small encour-
agement to the idea that pedal deform-
tiles produced by footwear have be-
come hereditary, but the modern infant
bears testimony to the contrary. Per-
haps the feet of women suffer more.
than those of men from injudicious
footwear, but infants seem t, inherit
not the peculiarities of their mothers,
but only the structural form. The
fact is that the infant foot is a most de-
lightful little member, and its plump,
ball-like elongations on the under side
OF the toes, the spatulate ends of the
latter, and other peculiarities some
times ascribed to the modern shoe, are
older than the Christian era.-N. Y.
Sun.