MISCELLANY 



7'i7 



being followed by a row of long bones, 

 called metatarsal, attached to which are 

 the toe-bones. Observe, further, the form 

 and position of the heel-bone and the as- 

 tragalus, the ankle-joint. Above the foot, 

 and articulating with the astragalus, are two 

 bones, one small (fibula), the other large 

 (tibia). In many reptiles the ends of these 

 bones are nearly equal. Now, in Bathmo- 

 don, a mammal from the lowest Eocene 

 Tertiary of New Mexico and Wyoming, 

 the tibia and fibula articulate with the as- 

 tragalus and heel-bone. As in man, the 

 fibula is the smaller, and the heel-bone is 

 short ; the animal walked on the entire 

 sole. From Bathmodon to Horse, on the 

 one side, and Ox on the other, there is a 

 complete succession of intermediate forms, 

 corresponding to succession in time. Thus 

 in Bathmodon the astragalus is nearly flat, 

 while in the ox its upper surface presents a 

 grooved face of a pulley, its under surface 

 an angulated pulley -face, and a small con- 

 vexity is presented to the hollow of the 

 heel-bone behind. The progression toward 

 this form from Bathmodon embraces these 

 terms : Bathmodon (a gap filled by partial- 

 ly-known genera), Hippopotamus, Peccary, 

 or Oreodon, Deer, Ox. The succession of 

 feet to the one-toed extreme, Bathmodon, 

 Titanotherium (in the Miocene), Tapir, Horse. 

 In the heel-bone there is a succession from 

 the short and flat form of Bathmodon to the 

 long and slender one of the horse and rumi- 

 nants, and this increase of length is asso- 

 ciated with elongation of the bones of the 

 toes, and the passage from the plantigrade 

 to the digitigrade type. Another succession 

 is seen in the diminished number of toes. 

 The series commences in the primitive Eo- 

 cene types with five digits ; in the various 

 series leading to the horse, the ox, the 

 hyena, the cat, the reduction proceeds by 

 the loss of a toe from one side or the other, 

 until, in the ruminants, but two are left, 

 and in the horse but one. In like manner 

 the two bones of the leg, which articulate 

 with the foot and hand, exhibit a succes- 

 sion of changes. 



The relation of man to this history is 

 significant. His limbs are those of the 

 primitive type, so common in the Eocene. 

 He is plantigrade, has five toes, separate 

 carpals and tarsals, short heel, flat astrag- 



alus, and neither hoofs nor claws, but 

 something intermediate between the two. 

 The bones of the forearm and leg are not 

 so unequal as in the higher types, and the 

 ankle-joint is not so perfect. 



A like succession is shown to exist in 

 the forms of the teeth ; but we have not 

 the space for even the briefest synopsis of 

 the author's remarks on this point. Thus 

 in Umbs and in teeth man retains the char- 

 acters of the primitive type. From the 

 generalized mammalian fauna of the Eo- 

 cene the carnivora developed a highly-or- 

 ganized apparatus for the destruction of 

 life. The cloven - footed and odd - toed 

 hoofed orders, are the result of constantly- 

 increasing growth of the appliances for rap- 

 id motion over the ground. The ancestors 

 of the carnivora were developing the arts 

 and cruelty of the chase ; those of the 

 hoofed orders were developing speed ; those 

 of the quadrumana neither speed nor weap- 

 ons of defense, and nothing was left to 

 them but arboreal life. They took to the 

 trees, and developed the prehensile powers 

 of the feet. In limb and tooth, and diges- 

 tive system, they remain nearly in the gen- 

 eralized condition from which the other 

 orders have risen. Man's prominence con- 

 sists solely in the complexity and size of 

 his brain. While the order to which he 

 belongs has made but little progress since 

 the Eocene, in perfecting the organization 

 of the skeleton, it has accomplished the 

 greatest work of all time the evolution of 

 the human brain and its functions. " The 

 race has not been to the swift, nor the bat- 

 tle to the strong." 



Mnsfniar Structure of the Hands and Feet. 



While Prof. Cope has been working on the 

 osteology of the hand and foot, Dr. William 

 S. Barnard has been studying their myology, 

 or muscular structure. On the history of 

 the muscles the fossil world can throw no 

 light, but Dr. Barnard's investigations of 

 living types seem to demonstrate that mus- 

 cles have had a history no less significant 

 than the bones. Prof Cope has shown 

 that, osteologically, the human foot is of 

 ancient pattern. What is it myologically ? 

 Let the reader attentively study his own 

 foot ; let him experiment on the toes. Try 

 to flex them, and they move, but rather 



