Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Our feet and their coverings. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![little pamphlet, by Professor Meyer, of Zurich, who is already known for Iiis researches into the structure aud mechanical adaptations of the foot and lower limbs. We have had occasion to mention one point in which we are inclined to differ from the authoi*, and we think that if more had been said about the form of the last, the work would have been rendered more complete, but on the whole it illustrates so forcibly the errors of the present system of foot-covering, and indicates so clearly their remedy, that it deserves to be in the hands of every maker, and we might almost say, every wearer of shoes. The transla- tor's part is performed by Mr. Craig in an unexceptionable manner. We are much indebted to Mr. Dowie for bringing before the English public the philosojiliical essay of Camper, which contains many valuable suggestions, some, however—as those relating to the position of the buckle, and to enormously high heels—are more applicable to the period at which it v/as written than to the present day. In his own part of the work, Mr. Dowie unsparingly denounces the evils inflicted upon man- kind by his fellow-craftsmen, among whom he has long been known as an ardent reformer. The chief peculiarity of the book consists in the advocacy of flexible, instead of rigid soles, an object which is to be gained by the introduction of a ])iece of a matei-ial called ' elasticated leather, at the waist, or middle part of the shoe. Dr. Humphry's work is an amplification of two lectures delivei-ed at Cambridge. Addressed to unscientilic readers, it is written in language the most popular, but bears ample evidence of the extensive knowledge and cai-eful consideration of the subject which might be expected from so accomplished an anatomist. It is divided into two sections, the first devoted to the foot, the second to the har,d. Al- though it miglit be supposed that the well-known Bridgewater Treatise of Sir Charles Bell had exhausted the latter subject. Dr. Humphry has contrived to bring together much that is novel as well as interest- ing in relation to the uses of this most important member, and has enlivened the dry details of structure by numerous references to com- l^arative anatomy and to social customs, as those of shaking hands, wearing the ring on the fourth finger, the preferential use of the right to the left hand. The last question has very often been asked, but never satisfactorily solved. Dr. Humphry, alter dismis.sing as unte- nable any supposed anatomical reason for the disjiarity of the two limbs, arrives at the conclusion that the superiority [of the right hand over the left] is acquired, the tendency to acquire the superiority is natural. This s])ecializiug of one of the hands fur particular kinds of work is an extreme example of that principle of division oflabour, which, as carried out in the animal system, is the criterion of elevation of organization. The subject of the proper form of shoes is trc^ited of, though rather briefly, but we are glad to find that the author fully sanctions the views of Professor Meyer, and gives his little work a cordial recommendation. W H P](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22283274_0008.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
