CHAPTER FIFTY 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE HORSE AND THE ELEPHANT 



1. WERE the horse not a common animal, to be seen structure of 

 any day on the streets, it would be regarded with wonder thehorse 

 and amazement. The Mammalia in general, including 



man, have five toes or digits. This number is never 

 increased, except in monstrosities, but it may be de- 

 creased. In the horse, only a single toe is left on each 

 foot, and the greatly enlarged toenail is the hoof. The 

 teeth of the horse are scarcely less remarkable. Adapted 

 for grinding hard food, they are very long, with an ex- 

 tremely complicated enamel pattern. The surfaces are 

 ground down during life, and as the appearance differs 

 at different levels, it is possible to tell the age of a horse 

 by its teeth. The mane and tail are also peculiar, and 

 there are many other interesting structural features. 

 Added to all these are the psychological characteristics, 

 - the wonderful combination of intelligence with docil- 

 ity, which makes the animal useful to man. A well- 

 known breeder and lover of horses was so moved by all 

 these excellences, that he declared that the one great 

 error in evolution was the derivation of man from a mis- 

 chievous, ill-behaved creature of the monkey group, in- 

 stead of a majestic, sagacious beast such as the horse ! 



2. In any dispute over the fact of evolution, it would Ancestors of 

 be natural to cite the horse as presenting special difficul- 

 ties. How could it be that an animal so peculiar had 



been derived from any other type ? Fortunately, how- 

 ever, it is in this very group that we have one of the most 

 complete evolutionary series, preserved in the form of 

 fossil bones. Going back to a period fully three million 

 years ago, we find in the Eocene strata of the Rocky 

 Mountain states remains of an animal barely a foot 



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