Page:JehuTJ 1902redux(1).pdf/21

20 similar degradation of the little toe is seen among people who always walk bare-foot. But Spencer has shown that the alteration in the little toe has its origin not in the effects of boot-pressure but in the modification in the form of the foot which has been brought about as a result of the change from habits to terrestrial habits which took place ages back during the genesis of the human type from some lower type of. A consequence of this change of habit has been that the inner digits of the foot have gradually increased and developed while the outer digits have dwindled. In walking the great stress is thrown by man on the inner sides of the feet and so the inner digits have come into more use as compared with the outer digit. The inheritance of the effects of this and  of parts accounts for the present form of the toes.

Spencer is not so fortunate in another piece of evidence which he records from the anatomy of the human body. In the (Oct.1893 and April 1894) Dr. Havelock Charles contributed papers setting forth some of the differences he had observed between the leg-bones of Europeans and those of the Punjaub people. The differences noted were seen in the knee-joint and ankle-joint and are ascribed to the fact that the Punjaubi always squat on the ground and never sit on chairs as the Europeans do. Certain facets are seen on the bones of the Punjaubi and these have been produced by the action of