Kitabı oxu: «Why the Shoe Pinches»

Chapters(not individually listed)

 What the Object of a Covering for the Foot is, and what Conditions this has to fulfil.

 On the Structure of the Foot.

 On the Construction of the Sole of the Shoe in the ordinary way.

 How Shoes with Soles constructed in this way press the Foot out of Shape.

 How the Shoe gets Trodden on one side.

 On the Prevention of Treading on One Side, by changing the Shoe from one Foot to the other.

 How an improper form of Sole injures the Foot.

 How the Shoemaker, with the best intentions, renders still worse the condition of the disfigured Foot.

 On very broad Shoes, and on taking Measure by means of an outline of the Foot.

 How a proper Sole may he designed for either Foot.

 How Soles are to he constructed for Feet in which the Great Toe has already been pressed obliquely outwards.

 Are High Heels of any Use?

 The Upper Leather—Boots or Shoes?

 Answers to Objections.

​

WHY THE SHOE PINCHES.

Table of Contents

What the Object of a Covering for the Foot is, and what Conditions this has to fulfil.

We put on shoes for precisely the same reason that we wear clothes on other parts of our bodies, namely, that we may be protected from injurious external influences.

The influences from which we desire to be protected are roughness of the ground on the one hand, and cold and wet on the other.

When the roughness of the ground only is to be provided against, the sandal—consisting of a sole of stiff leather or wood, fastened by thongs or bands so as completely to cover the underpart of the foot—is sufficient.

But if protection from cold and wet be also desired, the sole has generally added to it a covering for the whole foot, and part of the leg. This covering may be made of various stuffs, but usually consists of soft leather. When thus combined with the sole, the upper leather further serves to keep the sole firmly fixed under the foot, and thus does away with the need of bands and thongs. Such ​combinations of upper leather and sole are called boots, shoes, etc.

A shoe, then, has to afford protection against unequal and rough ground, as well as against cold and wet. This is the object of a covering for the feet.

A covering for the foot has, however, to fulfil this object in a manner that will give rise to no disadvantage, the existence of which would essentially diminish the benefits of protection. The remedy would in this case be worse than the evil. Here, however, Fashion, so unfortunately mixed up in all our clothing-relations, steps in and must even have her say on the shape of the shoe. So long as the influence of fashion is confined to the cut and amplitude of the coat, the form and colour of the hat, and the like, the only harm that accrues is the probable production of a somewhat ludicrous effect. It signifies little, so far as health is concerned, whether a man wears a gray coat or a brown one, but it is of some importance whether the shoes he wears be broad or narrow, rounded or pointed, long or short. The shape of the shoe has too much influence on health and comfort to be left to the dictates of fashion.

The influence of fashion on the shape of the shoe produces the most baneful effects on the mechanism of the foot and on its soundness, and thus materially affects our moving about, and our consequent ability to take a sufficient amount of open-air exercise.

​It is quite clear that the foot must get inside the shoe, and if the shoe differ in shape from the foot, it is no less plain that the foot, being the more pliable, must of necessity adapt itself to the shape of the shoe. If, then, fashion prescribes an arbitrary form of shoe, she goes far beyond her province, and in reality arrogates to herself the right of determining the shape of the foot.

But the foot is a part of the body, and must not be changed by fashion; for our body is a gift, and its several parts are beautifully adapted for the purposes for which they were intended. If, therefore, we in any way change its normal form, not only do we not improve, but we actually disfigure it. Of this truth many a lady must be painfully aware who has not been able to resist the temptation to lace herself into what is called a "fine fissure " and he too must know it who has permitted his feet to be remodelled by fashionable boots.

"We do not indeed at first sight fully perceive the arrogant absurdity of which fashion is guilty in going so far as to determine the shape of our feet, because we are not alive to the fact that the case is peculiar to the feet. We only see it influencing the shape of the shoe, and come to the conclusion that it may regulate this as well as the cut of the coat. To this prevalent opinion we yield, regardless of the influence on the shape of the shoe, and thereby on the foot. As well indeed might Fashion one day come to the conclusion that fingers are inelegant, and ​decree that henceforth the hand be squeezed into a conical leather bag;—as well indeed might she in one of her freaks forbid the display of our arms, and bind them firmly to our bodies like those of children in swaddling-clothes.

The shoe ought to protect the foot, but it has no business to distort its shape.

Shoemakers should be aware of this, and try to make the covering of the foot a suitable one. The best of them, however, are grievously ill-qualified for this task if they are ignorant of the principles on which they ought to proceed in the construction of shoes really fit to serve their purpose, or if, from thoughtlessness or timidity, they stick fast to the pernicious forms in general use. To those amongst their number who think for themselves, and who understand their business, the following hints on the proper construction of the shoe will be welcome.

A shoe which will really be a help to walking, and not, as is too often the case, a hindrance, should be adapted to the shape of the foot, and this must accordingly first occupy our attention.

On the Structure of the Foot.

The foot consists of six-and-twenty bones, very beautifully arranged, and admitting of more or less motion on one another. ​Fourteen of these bones belong to the toes, the remaining twelve enter into the formation of the tarsus and metatarsus.

The metatarsal bones are the five long bones (a). "With the forepart of these the toes form joints. The remaining seven are the tarsal bones, and one of these, the astragalus (b), is embraced on each side by a projection (malleolus) from the bones of the leg, thus forming the ankle-joint.

If the inner aspect of the foot is examined, we find that it is an arch,

resting in front on the anterior heads of the five metatarsal bones (a), but principally on that of the great toe, and, on the calcaneum or heel (b) behind. The astragalus (c) forms the key-stone of the arch.

The arch is enabled to retain its form by means of strong-ligaments or bands passing from one bone to the others; and, thus held closely together, sustains the superincumbent weight of the body without giving way.

When we rest on the foot, as in standing, the arch is ​flattened by the pressure from above; and, consequently, becomes lengthened. When, however, the foot is allowed to hang free, the curvature of the arch is increased. At every step in walking also, when the foot is raised from the ground, the curvature immediately becomes greater through the action of the muscles.

The toes lie in front of the metatarsus, and are connected with it by joints. Each of the smaller toes has two joints,—the great toe only one.

The great toe plays by far the most important part in walking; because, when the foot is raised from the ground with the intention of throwing it forwards, we first raise the heel, then rest for a second on the great toe, and in lifting this from the ground the point of it receives a pressure which impels the body forwards. Thus, in raising the foot, the whole of the sole is gradually as it were "unrolled" up to the point of the great toe, which again receives an impetus by contact with the ground. The great toe ought therefore to have such a position as will admit of its being unrolled in the manner described; that is to say, it must so lie that the line of its axis, whenn carried backwards, will emerge at the centre of the heel; and this is its position in the healthy foot. The sole of an almost sound foot is given in Figure 3, and the true position of the great toe is indicated by the dotted line. This relation is still better brought out in Figure 4, which represents ​the well-preserved foot of a child about two years old. The line drawn through both figures is that in which the