In the last chapter the _instep_ was spoken of as a part of the whole arch of the foot. It is now to be looked at from the upper side. When the foot is in its best shape this part is elevated and prominent, with a well-marked and graceful rise from the ball upward, and a distinct projection or convexity at its upward portion, or about half way between the joint and the ankle, which is the upper surface of the first cuneiform bone, or the point where that bone joins the first metatarsal. This place is subject to callosities or thickenings of the skin, resembling corns, but more frequently is affected by soreness without any thickening of the skin. In the broken-down foot there is no convexity here at all, or but very little, the instep being a straight inclined plane from the ankle to the ball, and sometimes even bending downward. Insteps of this kind, whatever bad effects may come from their flatness, are not afflicted in the way just described. Corns and callosities are never known to fasten upon them; an advantage which shows that some good is mixed with evil, in the foot as well as elsewhere. It is the best formed instep, on the contrary, that is most subject to callosity and tenderness. This tenderness or callosity, whichever it may be, has one cause in the general tightness of the boot worn, and may have two others, arising from the shape of the lasts used. One of these is in the fact that the corresponding part of the last—technically called the _cone_ of the instep—does not extend far enough forward, or is shaved off too much—is left _too flat_, for the fitting of well-arched feet. There is not wood enough, proportionally, in the last at this point. The other cause comes from the whole instep, being placed too near the _middle_, instead of on the _side_, where the foot has it. Mr. Watkins, who was referred to in the last chapter, thus explains this defect: “If the instep is not in the right place, the foot swells in that place. I have seen very troublesome sores on the instep, and very difficult to cure, arising from the misplacing of the instep of the last. By a peculiar measurement[5] I have been enabled to obviate all difficulty in that respect, so that none of my customers now complain of tender insteps. The insteps on ordinary lasts are placed near the middle, which is erroneous, as the point of the instep lies on one side, and not in the centre, and common sense would indicate that the thicker parts of the lasts should be on the side of the large joints and toe, and the thinner on the outside of the foot, where the small toes are placed.”