Page:Why the Shoe Pinches.djvu/26



If we compare the sole of the usual construction with the actual form of the foot, it will be found that, apart from its smallness, it has deviated entirely from the form of the foot, as will readily be seen by comparing the soles represented above with Figures 3 and 4.

In making this comparison, we also perceive how the foot is injuriously acted on, since it must be forced, by the upper leather, into a shape corresponding to the outline of the sole. This cannot be avoided, indeed, for the toes are squeezed together from both sides, and the pressure is necessarily greatest where the shoe is narrowest. If we examine more particularly as to how the position of the toes is in this way affected, we find that the following changes take place.

From the outside the four smaller toes receive a pressure which forces them against each other, and also against the root of the great toe, which is thus pushed inwards. The point of the great toe is besides pressed outwards, and the middle line, or axis, of the toe thus becomes oblique. This obliquity of the great toe thus results from the inward pressure on the root by means of the smaller toes, and the outward pressure on the point directly inflicted by the upper leather.