508 THE MECHANICAL FUNCTIONS. 



acclivities, and fearlessly bounding over inter- 

 vening abysses, from point to point, till the 

 place of safety is attained on some rocky emi- 

 nence. From this secure station the Alpine 

 chamois looks down upon its pursuers, and de- 

 fies their further efforts at capture or molesta- 

 tion. The astonishing feats of agility practised 

 by this animal, and by which the most expe- 

 rienced hunters are perpetually baffled in their 

 attempts to approach it, sufficiently attest the 

 perfection of its organization in reference to all 

 these objects. The chamois has often been seen 

 to leap down a perpendicular precipice of twenty 

 or thirty feet in height, without sustaining the 

 slightest injury. How the ligaments that bind 

 the joints can resist the violent strains and con- 

 cussions they must be exposed to in these quick 

 and jarring efforts, is truly wonderful. 



While Nature has provided these animals 

 with the means of safety from their more for- 

 midable enemies, she has not left them alto- 

 gether without defence against their more equal 

 rivals in the field. It is on the head that she 

 has implanted those powerful arms which are 

 sometimes wielded with deadly effect in their 

 mutual combats. Even when not furnished 

 with horns, the animal instinctively strikes with 

 its forehead, where the frontal bone has been 

 expanded and fortified, apparently with a view 

 to this mode of attack. Thus, the ram butts with 



