Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1914-08-07
THE LINE OF GRAVITY.

normal human figure will be found to
nose and chin and, splitting the trunk
of the body along the median line
through the navel, will touch the
ground at point midway between the
two feet.
Viewed from the side, plumb line
will cut the posterior edge of the ira
gus (the prominence at the external
opening of the earl, pass through the
middle of the head of the humerus
in the shoulder joint, cut the posterior
edge of the femur (thigh bone) in the
hip joint and, passing through the
middle of the knee joint, through the
middle of the end of the fbula (the
bony prominence just outside the
ankle joint will touch the ground at
a point approximately two and one
half inches anterior to the back of
the heel.
This normal type of figure is in ex-
act mechanical balance, and by reason
of the automatic operation of the CO.
ordinating centers of the sympathetic
nervous system requires no conscious
effort or undue expenditure OF energy
to maintain the body in the upright
position.
Departure from this standard nor
NAL type falls into two general
classes one in which the hip and
knee joints are thrown behind the line
of gravity, and the other in which the
hip and knee joints are found in front
of the line Of gravity.
Because of the characteristic atti-
tude assumed in order to compensate
the displaced points Of gravity the
former has been designated THE Kan
CARGO" and the latter THE Gorilla"
type of figure.
Both these abnormal types maintain
the erect position only by reason of
more or less voluntary effort and by
virtue of an undue tension on certain
muscles necessary to overcome the
gravitational pull; both are chronic
sufferers from backaches and head
aches, and both are subject to all
sorts Of muscular rheumatisms."
Quacks get rich coming the desire for
relief from these chronic and most
mysterious" pains; and many dag.
noses of diseases that never exist are
made because of them. But it is grav-
| ity that makes the backaches and
most of the headaches-not disease;
and these conditions are usually ag-
gravated by the wrong kind of shoes
and the wrong kind of corsets.
If building is out Of plumb, alarm
is felt for the welfare Of the people
in it lest it fall down, and the authori-
! ties send expert engineers to investi-
gate the foundations. Not until the
| weak spots are repaired and the build.
! ing is lacked back into line is it con-
sidered safe to inhabit. The founda-
| ton of anything is the base on which
not yet succeeded in making statue
| of the normal erect human figure in
bronze, marble, wood or any other
medium capable of standing firmly
without being bolted to a substantial
! base. This would appear to indicate
that our foundation, the feet, are none
| too firm and that therefore we are not
in a position to take liberties with
them because the margin of stability
is too small. But we do so to our
great detriment.
Standing together two normal feet
show perfectly straight line, and
straight tread or Meyers line" ex-
tending from the center Of the tip of
the great toe through its base to the
center of the heel. Taking Meyers
line" as a base, line prolonged from
the center of the heel at an equal dis
| lance from the outside line of the
foot will cut through the center of the
| head of the fourth metatarsal bone
and follow the median line to the end
of the fourth toe, striking an angle of
about 16 degrees. And a diagonal
line drawn through the middle of the
bearing surface of the anterior foot
will cut Meyers line" at about the
big toe joint on an angle of 81 degrees
and will cut the line extending from
the center of the heel to the tip of the
fourth toe on an angle of about So
! degrees. AS matter of fact the CEN
ter of the bearing surface of the
normal foot approximates a section of
a circle drawn on a radius of about
one-third the length of the foot from
about the middle of the arch to point
| midway between the head of the first
metatarsal bone and the end of the
great toe.
Because our shoemakers do not fol-
low the anatomical line of the bearing
surface of our feet our base Is wrong
and we are not firm and sure Of foot
and we are crippled and exhausted
thereby and made less alert than we
should be. We instinctively have conf,
dence in the ability of a we'll balanced
figure and we instinctively expect stol-
idness and stupidity in the gorilla"
type People tending towards either
of the abnormal types should pay par