El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-11-02
EDUCATED FEET.
Hfndoo Trndesmen Make Good Use
OF Their PcdnI EXfre mitIcs.

Tie French ethnoiogist, Professor Il.
Regnault, has made special studies in the
far east in regard to the ability OF the
Hindoos 80 make use of their feet as auXli-
iaries Of their hands. This ability is par
ticularly noticeable when one watches
Hindoo tradesmen at their work. The
carpenter employs his feet as Il wise and as
a gauge: the shoemaker holds the shoe
between his feet leaving both his hands
free to work upon it; the Hindoo butcher
holds knife between the big and the sec
ond toe and cuts his meat by drawing il
across the knife and pressing it down
with both hands. The help of the feet is
most valuable in weaving, and it Is
wonderful thing to us to see a H1ndoo
artisan use both his hands and his feet in
handling his loom. Regnault also OBJ
served Il child elm bling n tree and grasp
ing the branches of the tree between the
first two toes of either foot whenever II
hold could thus be secured.
This collaboration of the feet with the
hands, it would seem, is the result OF
several changes in the physical develop
ment which the Hindoo race has under
gone in the course of time through out
ward agencies. Their hip joints are much
freer and more Timber than ours and will
permit them to squat on the ground and
at the same time draw the feet SO near
to their hands that they can grasp with
with some expense of strength. The ankle
Joint is also timber and works freely, and
the big toe is more developed and can be
moved by them at will rs regards its bend
ing and stretching, its separating from
and approaching toward the second toe.
The normal foot of the Hicdoo shows
large space between the big toe and the
second This, however, is due solely TO
their wearing sandals, which are held in
ID1y hof
these two toes. Tho constant muscular
exercises practiced in holding the sandals
naturally tends TO strengthening these
toes, and the use of the feet, being gen
eral custom and tried even by children Of
this tender age, has gradually changed the
HindOO anatomy -Phitadelphia RECORD
Hcnds 20 the North.
The superstition that human beings
should sleep with their heads to the north
| is believed by the French to have for its
foundation 81 scientific fact. They affirm
that each human system il in itself an
electric battery, the head being one OF the
electrodes, the feet the other Their proof
was discovered from experiments which
the Academy of Sciences was allowed 70
make on the body of u man who was
guiIlotined. This was taken the instant
1t fell and placed upon pivot free to
move as it might The head part after a
little vacillation turned to the north, and
the body then remained stationary. II
was turned half way round by one of the
| professors, and again the head end of the
| srunk moved slowly TO the cardinal point
due north the same results being repeat
ed until the final arrestation Of organi'
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Traveller
Remover His Last Scruple-
The Philanth1opic Gentleman - My
friend, do you know that the use of alco
hol makes "A man less able to work.
| Hungry HiggiDs-That removes my last
scruple az'in the stuff. - Indianapolis
Journal