Soil Microbiology

and strong emphasis are given to the role of gravity as a major designing agent of body structures. The author refutes the widely held idea that man gained his upright posture through an intermediate period of semi-erectness as may be observed in the gorilla and other anthropoid apes. This latter he regards as a reversion from the arboreally acquired vertical body posture of the primitive brachiating apes to terrestrial quadrupedism. Several chapters are devoted to the bony channels of weight distribution within the foot in standing and running. The existence of an anterior transverse metatarsal arch is denied on the basis of experimental evidence of weight-bearing contact of the heads of all of the metatarsals with the ground. Primary importance is placed on the ligaments in maintaining the arches of the foot during long hours of standing. The muscles are credited with absorbing the sudden great stresses brought to bear on the foot during running and jumping. In Chapters 13 through 16 the author presents his case for shortness of metatarsal I, and hypermobility of the first metatarsal segment, as the causes of the two dominant types of functional foot disorders. The first is characterized by pain centered in the metatarsal region with little evidence of structural deformity; the second is accompanied by pain of a more variable character and location, and by progressive pronation and flattening deformity. In Chapter 17 he makes vigorous rebuttal of the contrary conclusions drawn by Colonel R. I. Harris and Major Thomas Beath from the Canadian Army Foot Survey, which he labels a devastating arraignment of the "Morton thesis." Part II of the book is a detailed, and at times highly mathematical, analysis of the walking stride, undertaken in collaboration with Dudley D. Fuller of the Mechanical Engineering Department of Columbia University. It is based to a great extent on barographic and motion picture studies applied to six young adult males. Among other things it considers the path of the body's weight center, foot contact, and synchronized actions and weight distribution, vertical and horizontal forces, metabolic aspects, and muscle function. The reproduction of sequential motion picture photographs provides very informative and interesting illustrative material. The last three chapters deal anew with evolutionary and philosophical considerations. The book is rich with similies, but occasionally lacking in sufficient detail of experimental technique. The bibliography lists Morton's previous book and the Canadian Army Foot Survey. For further material it refers the reader to the classified bibliographies of five other texts.