Note Book V. Chap. 2. Note (h) — BOOK V.

[h] The Mechanism of the Foot, would appear to be wonderful, if I should descend to a Description of all its Parts; but that would be too long for these Notes; therefore a brief Account, (most of which I owe to the before-commended Mr. Cheselden,) may serve for a Sample: In the first Place, It is necessary the Foot should be concave, to enable us to stand firm, and that the Nerves and Blood-Vessels may be free from Compression when we stand or walk. In order hereunto, the long Flexors of the Toes cross one another at the Bottom of the Foot, in the Form of a St. Andrew’s Cross, to incline the lesser Toes towards the great One, and the great One towards the lesser. The short Flexors are chiefly concern’d in drawing the Toes towards the Heel. The transversalis Pedis draws the Outsides of the Foot towards each other; and by being inserted into one of the sesamoid Bones, of the great Toe, diverts the Power of the abductor Muscle, (falsly so call’d,) and makes it become a Flexor. And lastly, the peronæus Longus runs round the outer Ankle, and obliquely forwards cross the Bottom of the Foot, and at once helps to extend the Tarsus, to constrict the Foot, and to direct the Power of the other Extensors towards the Ball of the great Toe: Hence the Loss of the great Toe, is more than of all the other Toes. See also Mr. Cowper’s Anat. Tab. 28. &c.