THE ANTERIOR LIMBS OF QUADRUPEDS. 37 



the rude hands or graspers of the ape tribe ; 

 they are not destined for " the purposes of 

 ingenuity and art ; " they are not organs cor- 

 responding to a highly developed intellect ; 

 they are not the servants of mind, but are 

 rather " adaptations of the feet to the branches 

 on which the animals climb and walk." 

 Nevertheless the arm and hand of these 

 creatures approximate nearer to those of the 

 human subject than is found in any other 

 quadruped. It has been observed as a rule, 

 "that all animals which freely use the fore- 

 paws, either for holding, digging, climbing, or 

 flying, and which have the fore- arm in a 

 greater or less degree capable of revolving, 

 possess a clavicle more or less developed." In 

 some animals that dig, as the mole, it is of 

 great thickness and strength, while in the cat 

 tribe it is a mere rudiment imbedded in the 

 muscles of the shoulder. In the bat it is well 

 formed. The bat is expressly organized for 

 flight; the bones of the arms, and also of the 

 Angers of the hands, are greatly elongated, and, 

 like the strips of whalebone in an umbrella, 

 sei-ve as stretchers to an extensive and very 

 delicate membrane, which can be folded up or 

 unfolded at pleasure. The sensibility of these 



