PLEASURES OF S.-IEXCE. 37 



are wanted to work, or to repair any hole made by the water, or 

 to defend themselves or make their escape, when attacked by an 

 enemy. 



The fitness of different animals, by their bodily structure, to the cir- 

 cumstances in which they are found, presents an endless subject of 

 curious inquiry and pleasing contemplation. Thus, the Camel which 

 lives in sandy deserts has broad spreading hoofs to support him on the 

 loose soil ; and an apparatus in his body by which water is kept for 

 man} be used when no moisture can be had. As this would be 



useless in the neighbourhood of streams or wells, and as it would be 

 equally so in the desert, where no water is to be found, there can be no 

 doubt that it is intended to assist in journeying across the sands from 

 one watered spot to another. There is a singular and beautiful provi- 

 sion made in this animal's foot, for enabling it to sustain the fatigues 

 of journeys under the pressure of its great weight. Beside the yielding 

 of the bones and ligaments, or bindings, which gives elasticity to the 

 foot of the deer and other animals, there is in the camel's foot, between 

 the horny sole and the bones, a cushion, like a ball, of soft matter, 

 almost fluid, but in which there is a mass of threads extremely eh 

 interwoven with the pulpy substance. The cushion thus easily changes 

 nape when pressed, yet it has such an elastic spring, that the bones 

 of the foot press on it uninjured by the heavy body which they support, 

 and this hus^e animal steps as softly as a cat. 



Xor need we flee to the desert in order to witness an example of 

 skilful structure in the foot : the Horses limbs display it strikingly. 

 The bones of the foot are not placed directly under the weight ; if they 

 were in an upright position, they would make a firm pillar, and every 

 motion would cause a shock. They are placed slanting or oblique, and 

 tied together by an elastic binding on their lower surfaces, so as to form 

 springs as exact as those which we make of leather or steel for carriages. 

 Then the flatness of the hoof which stretches out on each side, and the 

 frog coming down in the middle between the quarters, adds <jr-atly to 

 the elasticity of the machine. Ignorant of this, ill-informed farriers nail 

 the shoe too far back, fixing the quarters, and causing permanent con- 

 traction so that the contracted hoof loses its elastic: step is a 

 shock ; inflammation and lameness ensue. 



The Rein-deer inhabits a country covered with snow the greater part 

 of the year. Observe how admirably its hoof is formed for going over 

 that cold and light substance, without sinking in it, or beina; frozen. 

 The under side is covered entirely with hair, of a warm and close tex- 

 ture ; and the hoof, altogether, is very broad, acting exactly like the 

 snow-shoes which men have constructed for giving them a larger space 

 to stand on than their feet, and thus to avoid sinking. Moreover, the 

 deer spreads the hoof as wide as possible when it touches the ground ; 

 but, as this breadth would be inconvenient in the air, by occasioning a 

 greater resistance while he is moving along, no sooner does he lift the 

 hoof than the two parts into which i: a fall together, and so 



lessen the surface exposed to the air, just as we may recollect the birds 

 doing with their bodies and wings. The shape and structure of the 

 hoof is also well adapted to scrape away the snow, and enable the animal 

 to get at the particular kind of moss (or lichen) on which he feeds. 



