In former times the parts of the human body were used as measures; and it was not uncommon to illustrate the tables of measures by drawings of the human body, with descriptions of the foot, palm, &c. One of the tables of the 16th century, derived in great part from the Romans and the Greeks, is founded upon the notion, which is not very far from the truth, that in the well proportioned man, the breadth of the palm is a 24th part of the whole stature, and the length of the foot a 6th part, and the length of the cubit--from the elbow to the end of the fingers--a 4th. The measures, however, varied at different times and in different countries, even though the names were the same. The latter have, in several instances, remained, though the definite measure which they now indicate is different from what it was, and differs from that of the part of the body from which the name was taken. Thus, our present foot measure (twelve inches) is considerably more than the length of the human foot. _The Skin of the Sole._ The SKIN of the sole is soft and yet very tough and strong. It underlies a thick pad of fat, which separates it from the bones and the plantar ligament. The fat is interwoven with fibres passing, through it, from the tissue of the skin to the bones and ligaments. It is, in this way, rendered very firm, though it retains much of the soft quality of fat; and it forms an admirable cushion for receiving the weight of the body and defending from injurious pressure both the skin and the other parts of the foot. The fibres just mentioned bind the skin to the superjacent bones and ligaments, and hold it firmly to them, so as to prevent its being displaced from them in the movements of the foot upon the ground. [Illustration: Fig. 46.]