Page:Why the Shoe Pinches.djvu/13



HE greater part of the following pages appeared, in the spring of 1857, in the second volume of the "Monatschrift des wissenschaftlichen Vereinschrift in Zürich," under the title of "Procrustes ante Portas! Ein Culturgeschichtliches Zeitbild" As its title indicates, this paper was a pretty sharp satire on the many deformities which, through vanity or ignorance, have been thoughtlessly or intentionally inflicted on our bodies. On various occasions I have briefly alluded to evils of this kind, and dwelt more particularly on the errors in the usual form of the coverings of our feet, at the same time giving hints how a more suitable shoe might be obtained without prejudice to the ever-primary consideration of elegance. My attention had been directed to the subject in the following manner: On the one hand my experiments on the mechanism of walking, published elsewhere, led me to remark how utterly bad our foot-clothing is; and on the other, my position as a teacher of anatomy gave me abundant opportunities of observing the almost incredible deformities