FEET AND HANDS. 333 



of the consequences of the scientific method — consequences which 

 we are pursuing and shall realize, in the moral as well as in the 

 material order, and despite all opposition; and in this way -will come 

 the universal triumph of science to assure the highest degree of hap- 

 piness and morality to men. — Translated for the Popular Science 

 Monthly from the Author's Science et Morale. 



■♦>» 



FEET AND HANDS. 



By M. BEENAED (Mks. HENEY BEENAED). 



I. 



IN the great family of the backboned animals, to which we our- 

 selves belong, many different kinds of feet and hands are to be 

 found, their shape showing a very wonderful relation to the manner 

 of life of their possessors. 



We are not going here to describe the fins of fishes, although 

 many people believe that our feet and hands were developed from 

 fins; we shall only deal with the true feet and hands found in ani- 

 mals higher than the fishes. 



When we try to picture the foot or hand of any animal, we natu- 

 rally think of it as we see it, often covered with fur which to a great 

 extent hides its real shape. In our own feet and hands the true 

 shape is more evident because the skin has lost its hairy covering. 

 To obtain a clear idea of the feet and hands of different animals it 

 is therefore better to limit ourselves to the bones which give them 

 their firmness. 



However different feet and hands may be, there is a certain re- 

 markable similarity of plan in them all. In all, as in our own, there 

 is a cluster of bones forming an " ankle " or a " wrist," and then 

 running out from this a certain number of what we may call " rays." 

 In each foot and hand there were once five rays, as there now are 

 in our own, but in many animals this original number has been 

 reduced, as we shall see. Each ray consists of several joints; the 

 first joints are the longest, and are bound together by skin and flesh 

 to form the sole of the foot or the palm of the hand, while the other 

 joints form the free toes and fingers, the skin at their tips carrying 

 nails or claws. 



We can all trace this general plan both in our own feet and in 

 our own hands, although in outward form our feet do not resemble 

 our hands, and the work they have to do for us is so very unlike 

 that it may seem surprising they should be built upon the same plan. 



The explanation of this similarity of plan is very simple. Once, 



