ELEPHAS. . 383 
which requires great solidity and columnar strength, it not being given 
to bounding about, and having enormous bulk to be supported, the 
scapula, humerus, ulna and radius are all almost in a perpendicular 
line. Owing to this rigid formation, the elephant cannot spring. No 
greater hoax was ever perpetrated on the public than that in one of our 
illustrated papers, which gave a picture of an elephant hurdle-race. 
Mr. Sanderson, in his most interesting book, says: “He is physically 
incapabie of making the smallest spring, either in vertical height or 
horizontal distance. ‘Thus-a trench seven feet wide is impassable to 
an elephant, though the step of a large one in full stride is about six and 
a half feet.” 
The hind-limbs are also peculiarly formed, and bear some resemblance 
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Skeleton of Elephant. 
to the arrangement of the human bones, and in these the same perpen- 
dicular disposition is to be observed ; the pelvis is set nearly vertically 
to the vertebral column, and the femur and tibia are in an almost direct 
line. The fibula, or small bone of the leg, which is subject to great 
variation amongst animals (it being merely rudimentary in the horse, for 
instance), is distinct in the elephant, and is considerably enlarged at the 
lower end. The tarsal bones are short, and the digits have the usual 
number of phalanges, the ungual or nail-bearing ones being small and 
rounded. 
I have thus briefly summarised the osteology of the elephant, as I 
think the salient points on which I have touched would interest the 
general reader; but, in now proceeding to the internal anatomy, I shall 
restrict myself still more, referring only to certain matters affecting 
