Polk County news-gazette. (Benton, Tenn.) 190?-191?, 1914-07-02
THE FOOT.

of the Museum OF Natural hlstoIS' III
dicating as the result of experiments
conducted by NJ, Lahy over period OF
ten years that persons who WORK con
stantly In the midst Of harsh noise
show symptoms Of exceptional fatigue
due 10 excessive blood pressure while
working, followed by depression OF the
vita! forces" And Emile GauueF, the
weIl-known scientist, is quoted as COM
pairing city noises TO blows OF nam
mer upon the nervous system, ana /
stating that such noises frequently /
repeated tend to cause neurasthenla III .
persons naturally sensitive to noise
There is not the shadow of doubt /
as to the truth of these observations I
And. further. we venture TO state that I
there is not a competent specialist OF
more than five years experience IN
any country in the world who cannot
show in his records many cases OF
mental exhaustion from the over use
of whatever, organ falls within his spe-
cial field of observation, be it the eye
ear. nose or any other part.
We have long been familiar with the
phenomena of reflex irritation as a
factor in human suffering, but the SUP
ject has never received the attention
It deserves and that it is destined 10
receive from this time on.
We do not have to be conscious OF
irritation to suffer the reaction from
over stimulation. And here we nave
an illustration Of the effect OF lnertla
on the human mind; for the scientlhc
gentleman who will so clearly polnt
out the cause of many cases of human
wreckage among his clients is usually
himself a victim of the same irritation
from another point Obviously he lacks
either in intellectual integrity or IN
that broad grasp Of principle approx
! mating genius, or he would recognize
in the fourteenth century type OF con-
! traption he wears on his feet source
of irritation of vastly more destructive
power than can possibly flow from eye'
ear or nose.
Every normal baby born into this
world has foot so shaped that
straight line drawn from the center OF
! the end of the big toe through the cen
ter of its base will pass through the
center of the heel of the foot. Tnls
I imaginary line was discovered many
! years ago BY man named Meyer ana
| has since been known as Meyer
line" and on the preservation of this
line depends foot comfort and, to
very large degree, general health ana
happiness as well.
The foot is composed of 26 bones,
more or less movable. Fourteen OF
these belong to the toes. the remaining
p being a series of odd shaped bones
forming two arches. The weight OF
the body is carried on the astragalus,
the highest bone in the arch. These
two arches are held up by two sets OF
tendons originating in the heavy calf
muscles. One set, running down under
the heel bone and extending from heel
to toes, strings the longitudinal arch
ND lust as a bowstring strings bow;
others running down the inside OF the
leg turn under the arch OF the lnstep
and. extending across the sole OF the
foot are anchored to bone near the
base of the little toe, stringing up the
crosswise arch. The give and pull OF
the calf muscles on these tendon ropes
that hold up the arches forms won
derfully efficient set of springs and in
sures ar easy, graceful, swinging and
ever enduring gait If they are permit
ted to operate.
h00V
is thrown on the foot In taking nor
NAL stride the longitudinal arch will
expand approximately three-quarters
of an inch and the cross arch about
one-half inch. If this free action be
! not permitted then it means weaken
ing the muscles of not only the entire
leg and hips but of the back and abdo-
men as we'll, besides disturbing the
circulation in general and converting
the natural walk into waddle. Few
, people walk these days-they cannot;
they tire too easily because their cen
ter of gravity is displaced.
, 1t would be much less harmful II
any person thoroughly convinced that
, nature had made mistake in shaping
, the human foot should have his feet
: reshaped to suit with saw and knlfe
r than to devote life time to moldine
, them into conventional lines by the
, usual daily hammering, which is bru
tai and disastrous because each ster
taken means a blow on the brain
, tissue.
! Nervous exhaustion is powerful
factor In the stupefaction of multi
tudes who imagine they are Ill, ano
the KEY to the puzzle is without doubt
! to be found in the fact that 1t il
> among the class showing the greatest
distortion Of Meyers line that the
vast majority of the most aggravated
types Of neurasthenia are to be found
!, ANY pressure that can possibly dis
: tort meyers line" is at the same
time applied to this special sense area
= and this brings us face to face will
the question of nerve cell exhaustion
through foot irritation--a subject OF
/, which the average individual Is eN