What, now, can be done toward the cure of crooked toes and enlarged joints after they have been induced? The way of their prevention is already made plain, but to remove the disfigurement after it has become a settled thing is a much more difficult matter. The toe must be forced back to its former position, and kept there by a steady, constant pressure, and the parts be allowed time to gradually re-adapt themselves and grow fixed in their proper shape. The straightening of the toe will allow the bones to come nearer together at the joint, and this, when not sore, may perhaps be pushed back slightly, toward the middle of the foot, by the pressure of a narrow boot. As this process is the exact opposite of that by which the deformity is developed, it ought, with proper time, patience, and thoroughness, to be tolerably successful. Dr. Meyer even leaves it to be inferred that toes which are not badly distorted will gradually re-assume their primary position _without any assistance_, provided the shoe is of the right form, with plenty of room at the end, and the stocking is not allowed to prevent. For straightening the toe it would seem that some efficient mechanical contrivance could be easily arranged, but as yet there is nothing entirely satisfactory. To be completely successful it ought to be something that can be easily fastened to the bare foot, so that all the toes may be brought to their proper place before covering with the stocking. But there is a difficulty in making the little toe, or even more than one of them, act as a point of support from which a force can be brought to bear against the great one. So, while unable to do better, this stationary point must be found in the sole of the shoe. The best thing we have been able to discover is a simple plate of metal, standing upright between the great toe and its neighbour, so securely fastened to the insole as to prevent the toe from inclining toward the side. Of course nothing can be done in a boot or shoe of the common form, as in such a one the toe cannot be straightened by any means whatever. The last on which it is made must be one like that described as the _Excelsior_, or, what is still better for this case, one of the form proposed by Dr. Meyer. There is no danger of going to an extreme in so shaping the last as to turn the toe inward, because, the toe, after being fastened at its end, tends strongly to resume its old, deformed position by pushing the upper over the edge of the sole at the joint. It thus partially defeats the object, and will be straightened less than the form of the last (and shoe) indicates that it ought to be. Hence it is well not to let the _ball of the last_ project over the bottom, and thus try to keep back the joint from pushing over the upper of the shoe. And, even if the last is crooked inward at the toe a little _more_ than Meyer’s rule directs, there will be no harm. It should also be well hollowed or curved on the inside, at the region back of the