The Yale expositor., 1914-07-02
THE FOOT.


dicating as the result of experiments
conducted by NJ. Lahy over a period of
ten years that persons who work con-
stantly in the midst OF harsh noise
! show symptoms of exceptional fatigue,
due to excessive blood pressure while
working, followed by depression of tho
vital forces" And Emile Gautier, tho
well-known scientist. is quoted as COM
pairing city noises ito blows of a ham
mer upon the nervous system" and
stating that such noises frequently
repeated tend to cause neurasthenia In
persons naturally sensitive to noise" :"
There is not the shadow Of a doubt
as to the truth OF these observations.
And, further, we venture to state that
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
factor in human suffering, but the sub
! ject has never received the attention
1t deserves and that it is destined to
receive from this time on.
We do not have TO be conscious of
! irritation to suffer the reaction from
over stimulation. And here we have
an illustration of the effect of inertia
on the human mind; for the scientific
gentleman who will so clearly point
out the cause OF many cases of human
wreckage among his clients is usually
himself victim OF the same irritation
! from another point. Obviously he lacks
either in intellectual integrity or in
that broad grasp of principle approx
imating genius, or he would recognize
in the fourteenth century type of cOn-
traption he wears on his feet a 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 a foot so shaped that a
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. This
imaginary line was discovered many
years ago by man named Meyer and
has since been known as Meyers
line" and on the preservation of this
line depends foot comfort and. to
very large degree. general health and
happiness as well.
The foot Is composed OF 26 bones,
more or less movable. Fourteen CT
these belong to the toes, the remaining
IL being a series OF odd shaped bones
forming two arches. The weight OF
the body is carried on the astragalre,
the highest bone In the arch. There
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
up just as a bowstring strings a bow;
others running down the inside of the
leg turn under the arch OF the instep
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 a won
derfully efficient set of springs and in
sures an easy, graceful, swinging and
ever enduring gait If they are permit
ted to operate.
When the entire weight of the body
is thrown on the foot in taking a nor
NAL stride the longitudinal arch will
expand approximately three-quarters
of an inch and the cross arch about
one-half inch. II this free action be
not permitted then II means weaken
ing the muscles OF not only the entire
leg and hips but of the back and abdo-
men as well, besides disturbing the
circulation IN general and converting
the natural walk into a waddle. Few
people walk these days-they cannot;
they tire too easily because their GEN.
ter Of gravity is displaced.
Il would be much less harmful II
any person thoroughly convinced that
nature had made a mistake In shaping
the human foot should have his feet
reshaped to suit with saw and knife
than to devote a life time to molding
them into conventional lines by the
usual daily hammering. which is bru-
tai and disastrous because each step
taken means blow on the brain
tissue.
Nervous exhaustion is a powerful
factor In the stupefaction of multi
tudes who imagine they are Ill. and
the key TO the puzzle is without doubt
to be found in the fact that II Is
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" IL at the same
time applied to this special sense area.
and this brings US face to face with
the question of nerve cell exhaustion
through foot irritation-a subject on
which the average individual is ex-