The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1924-05-16
Tells
HOW APE IS
LIKE MAN

| LINZ V|hW
CorIIIa's Foot Presents Strik-
Ing Similarity to That
of Human.
NEW YORK, Map 1e-John
Daniel H." the country's youngest
athlete, made a prodigious jump and
landed on the soft bed In his suite
in New York hotel. Proud Of his
skill. he stood upright on his two
black hairy feet, and struck his little
chest nightly with the flats Of his
hands.
Notice his small calf muscles, "
said DR.. William A. Echon, a noted
foot orthopedist OF Chicago. "They
show that the gorilla merely uses
his feet to sustain his weight and
emily partly for propulsion. But
this heavy weight, which in an
adult gorilla reaches $50 or $50
pounds, has developed q long, heavy
heel bone, the oscalsis, which is
very much like a human heel bone.
The great length Of this bone gives
Il a certain leverage which partly
compenSates for the weak calf
muscles"
A few minutes later "Mr. John
Daniel II" grasped the railing on
the top OF the hotel az he balanced
hundreds Of feet above Broadway.
DR.. Scholl pointed out that his
feet were seTni1Arboreal or half
way fitted to climb about in trees.
That's right" said John Daniel
IL. II learned to do this in the
Gaboon mountains"
A Dirty Trick.
How did they catch your" asked
mere reporter.
"A dirty trick. If yod asked me. +"
said John. They used a net. 7
can tell you my mother was greatly
! put out when did not show up
for supper"
Speaking Of supper made John
Daniel II hungry. So Miss Alyce
Cunningham. his best friend, gave
him q nice bowl Of dried milk.
| John Daniel was so immensely
pleased at this that he permitted
Photograph OF his foot to be taken.
Il don't object in the least" said
he. But wouldn't like my foot
dissected, a. they did to John
Daniel l."
DR.. Scholl explained that John II
had a very good foot, with a heel
much like that Of a human heel.
Johns foot functions more like a
human foot than that OF any of the
great apes.
| This pleased John immensely.
and he jumped around like a rubber
ball. ending up by untying a re.
| porter's shoe strings, using both his
fingers and teeth.
That is the way / evolute-by
using my BRAIN" said John.
The foot" explained DR.. Schcll.
was probably the first part of the
skeleton to show distinctive changes
when mans earliest ancestors took
/ to walking on the ground. The
reason for this Is that the heavy
weight Of the body operates mechan-
! ically to change the structure Of
/ the foot when its function Is
changed. All evidence goes to show
that mans ancestors had given up
lie in trees long before he acquired
human face and form"
IT'S too bad" said John. "1f they
had stuck to trees would be in
the 0aboon Mountains right this
minute"
This thought made John feel
lonely and he ran to Miss Cunning
ham and put his shining little black
arms around her, just like a little
baby that wants its mother.
DR.. Scholl observed that the way
Johns toes are placed resembles
! that OF the toes of a very young
baby, particularly that or a child be,
fore birth. A greater inversion OF
the foot also occurs in the infant.
whose bones admit Of greater fexi-
bility.
Development of Foot.
| He said you could tell a great
deet about Johns family tree by his
feet. OF course, 1t was unscientific
to say that man was descended from
the monkeys or apes, but probably
man and the apes go back to some
common ancestral group millions of
years ago. It was not unreason.
able. he said, to suppose that mans
foot has been developed from a
tree-climbing grasping type 6f foot.
THE increasing bulk Of the heel and
the shortening and thickeninE of
the metatarsals and digits, evident
in the gorilla, were possessed by
man at an early stage. When the
foot Is put to new uses continuous
pressure soon changes it's form and
structure, the doctor said. People s
feet are changing every day, as-the
army records of flat.foot would
show.
"It's all a part of evolution" said
I - =
l have been In the United States
a vaudeville circuit, or doing my
| stuff al golf /"