The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-26
A STUDY IN EVOLUTION
DECLINE AND FALL OF MUSCULAR
STRENGTH OF THE GREAT TOE.
How It's Grasping Power Is Developed
In some Races of PeopIe--Interest-
ing Examples Of'sItA Use.
Overland Monthly.


fected of the two-legged animals, this full
crum is in him the most perfect of its kind.
The manlike apes, such as the chimpaazee,
the gorilla and the orang-outang, in which
all four of the extremities bear their share
of the weight in locomotion and have pre-
hensible or grasping powers. do not walk
directly on the fat Of the feet as we do; and,
as a consequence, their great toes retain
much of the thumblike nature belonging TO
that organ in the lower monkeys 1t Is,
therefore, taken by many. at hasty glance,
as a prime difference between man and the
creature next to him that he is devoid OF
prehension, the grasping power, in his feet
and has, to a marked degree. the ability TO
walk on the fiat of his feet, and make MS
great toe give that spring to his step when
is necessary in easy and graceHul walking
But this difference is much discredited as
mark of separation of man and the gorilla,
by reason of the great numbers of connect
ing links" If in the higher apes the toe did
not show signs of beginning to take on the
walking attributes and if in the man there
were not plainly discernible traces OF mus
cular and other structure indicative that
once the human toe was a prehensile organ,
and IL further, there were not found many
savages and not a few semi-civillzeo peoples
with a certain amount of erasping power
in the big toe, the problem would be Tar
more simple.
AS a matter Of fact, the marked difference
between the thumb toe on the hind foot OF a
spider monkey and the great tee Of human
heing whose ancestors have Cor years gone
booted and shod is FAM 'ul, not actual. For
between them stand a long line OF higher
ynonkevs and lower men in which the
change from one to the other is clearly indl-
Gated. By this it is not to be UNDERSTOOD
that we are to jump at the conclusion OF
mans derivation from monkeys; no sclen I
tifc evoutionist has or does teach eAacuy
this We are simply to understand tldl
mans ancestors have at ore tlne; ihqgui lA'y
like gone on all tours; Whle me ., ni s,act
monkeys are even now acquiring the erect
When 1t dawned on primitive man or his
ancestors back in those dim days tnaI III
the erect position he had both hands free
to hurl missiles at an enemy, OF 70 use d
club upon him, and at the same time wa
in a much better position TO see anu . Maru
OF an attack at that moment the extreme
Syrasping powers of the foot were doomed
to slow extinction and its walking quah'les
10 as gradual development
CAUSE OF THE CHANGE
II ia a mistake to think, as some people
40 that the present uselessness of the great
foe for anything but walking, as seen TO
the greatest degree in North European
races or their derivatives is solely due TO
the stiffening of it under the confinement
of the modern shoe. 1t is we'll nigh as use
less in the American Indian driven py
stress of climate to a nomadic life ana
much walking, as it is in his White con-
uueror. His near cousins in tropical Amer
lea, on the contrary. allowed by a genial
climate to live a life of Incidence, nave a.
most as strong a graspng power In the
toe as has the African negro or tne aDOrlg-
fnal Australian. The habit of walking erect
and that only has brought ABOUT Ihe
It IS a universally accepted theory that
upon the embryo of an animal may De
found written in unmistakable anatomlcai
character, if we but look with Sufhcient
care, the record of the stages through
which it's ancestors have come by the graz
Slal changes of development. Therefore we
are not surprised to be told by PROFESSOR
Jeffries Wyman that in the very immature
human embryo may be found stage Wnere
the great toe is shorter than the others
as in the case of our thumb, ana WleIe'
instead of being parallel to the other toes,
Il projects at an angle from the slde OF the
foot thus corresponding to the permanent
condition of this part in true monkeys.
How permanent the effects of long ages
turtles of disuse are overcome, is well IL
Illustrated by those uniformed individuals
known to the anatomist as ectromelesDporn
without the upper limbs IIese soon leaI I
TO use their feet as though they were hands,
easily utilizing them in eating, drinking;
writing, playing musical instruments ana
even as in a recently famous case, in skill
mi modelling in CLAW. Examination shows
that in such cases, while the thumblke po-
sition of the toe cannot be acquired, by rea-
son of the foot, muscular powers long DOR
mant or atrophied are soon called into play
and gripping power ana a nicely Ir voucn
are acquired that are almost marvellous.
Many savage or semi-saVage tribes nave
retained the grasping power IN the great
toe to a considerable degree, ana the uses
they make of it are novel and interesting;
Visitors to the worlds fair at Chicago mad
opportunity to study this in the Dahomey-
NJ IF ia Midway PldiSanCe. though they
are now much modified by four or nVe years
of life in Paris. These savages had habit
the neck firmly between the great and the
second toes, and while thus holding IT,
reaching down and killing it by pulling its
head off with their fingers. one or them
could pick his teeth with a toothplck held
between the toes, and another picked UP
coin from the ground quite as well with
his feet as with his hands. The latter feat
is not at all uncommon among the negroes
of our Southern States, while the same
negro cook that had in the West indies,
Sailing across the bay from Port Royal to
Kingston, Jamaica, my skipper prove9 MN
self a whole crew by steering with one
hand, holding one sail sheet with the other
and holding another by the rope passed be
tween his toes. The perfect ease with which
he could let the rope run through his toes
and suddenly check it by the pressure OF the
great toe against its neighbor was a revela-
ton to one who himself had soft corns
caused by gentle rubbing OF the toes To-
gether. This is common method OIL man
ippines, as it is also among some OF the
CaribS of the Orinoco river.
On the Mosquito coast OF Central Amer
lea the MOSQUITO Indians are adopts IN pas
ket work turning out strong and neat bas-
kets at q rate that is surprising when COM
pared with all the other processes common
to the workers in that drowsy climate. 1t
is less surprising, however, after one has
seen with what deXterity both feet are
pressed into service and how much of the
work they accomplish. / have stood and
watched this work as done by Skilltul
haskell maker, AMI it was impossible to see
that either hand or either foot was given
preference over the other. Whichever
CHANGED to be least engaged was used next
and whichever was. the work appeared 10
progress with the same regularity and as
patch. In Senegal the weaVerS or tabrlcs
are gifted in like manner. and Theophile
Gautier is authority FOR the statement that
he has seen Arabs using their toes In max
ing Iacework. braids and edging.
A NOTABLE EXAMPLE.
A recent notable example of the develop
ment is that of the young woman now ia
NOUS in London for the beautiful and very
faithful busts and other works of the
modeler's art she has executed with her
feet Being armless. she depends mainly
on the delicacy of touch and accuracy of
movement in the great toe There is now
living on the east side of New York man
who lost both arms at the elbow while quite
young, but who has for years supported
saY.1.a o.