It is one of the master results of creation, and one of the peculiar marks of creative genius, that _perfection_ and _beauty_ are usually presented together. As truth is the soul of eloquence, so is perfection the soul of beauty. The works of nature are beautiful because there is so much excellence in them, such admirable adaptation to their purpose; and we find the works of man beautiful only so far as they are correct imitations of their great originals in nature, or show some approach to nature’s excellence. And man is the most beautiful object in nature because he is the most perfect, that is, because the purpose of his existence is the highest, and because his physique exhibits the most marvellous moulding to adapt it to its high purpose; because, in short, in him the material is wrought to such a point of refinement as to be the receptacle and minister of the immaterial. The movements of the three joints between the foot and the leg take place in harmony. The following is the order observed. The raising of the _heel_ is accompanied by a rolling of the foot _in_wards, and by an increased _flexure_ of the plantar arch; and the raising of the _toes_ is accompanied by a rolling of the foot _out_wards and a _straightening_ of the sole. _The Muscles of the Leg and Foot._ [Illustration: Fig. 12.] The _first_ series of the movements just described is effected, mainly, by three muscles. Of these one (A, fig. 12) raises the heel while the other two (B, fig. 12, and C, fig. 13) raise and support the ankle. The muscle which acts upon the heel is one of the largest and most powerful in the body; and well it may be, for in raising the heel it has to raise the whole weight of the body. Its fibres, accumulated at the middle and upper part of the leg, form the “calf;” below they taper into a thick tendon (a) connected with the hinder extremity of the heel-bone, and called the _Tendo Achillis_. The name, it need scarcely be said, refers to the tale of Thetis holding her son Achilles by this part when she dipped him in the river Styx. Her hand prevented the part from coming in contact with the water; and so it did not partake of the invulnerability which was conferred upon the rest of his body by the immersion. We read, accordingly, he was finally killed by a wound in the heel[2].