M orton, D udley J .

Abstract

Dudley J. Morton (1884–1960) was a US orthopedic surgeon and anatomist known for his influential writings on the evolution, anatomy, biomechanics, and musculoskeletal pathologies of the human foot. In his work as an evolutionary morphologist, Morton argued that the descent from the trees to the ground in the human evolutionary lineage had taken place in an orthograde, suspensory Miocene ape, and that gorilla feet show convergent similarities to human feet as an adaptation to independently derived terrestrial habits. As a doctor, Morton traced many foot problems to “atavistic” skeletal variants, which he saw as reversions toward ancestral, ape‐like morphologies ill‐suited to the demands of bipedal locomotion on the ground. He promoted these ideas widely and successfully through both technical and popular books and articles in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. Although many of his clinical contentions are rejected today, most of his ideas about the evolution and functional and comparative anatomy of the foot remain generally accepted.