THE ANTERIOR LBIBS OF QUADRXTPEDS. 53 



or supination at the elbow joint, or with any 

 laxity at the joint analogous to the wrist. 



Such are the limbs of the elephant, hog, 

 camel, deer, antelope, and horse. 



The elephant, heavy and clumsy, yet gifted 

 with a proboscis which it uses as an instrument 

 of prehension and an organ of touch, displays 

 in its gait an utter want of that spring and 

 elasticity so conspicuous in many other animals. 

 Nor is it difficult to account for this, when we 

 come to examine the Hmbs : in the first place, the 

 bones all bear perpendicularly, or nearly so, on 

 each other, Avithout making acute angles at the 

 joints. Unite end to end several sticks by means 

 of springs of steel, arranging the spring-joints in 

 two or three angles or zigzags, then press one 

 end on the ground, and you will see with what 

 freedom the whole will play, it represents a 

 limb, with the bones, muscles, and Ugaments. 

 Straighten the pieces of wood, bringing them 

 into a Une, press the end to the ground, and 

 though the spring-joints may bend, the whole 

 does not show the play of the former; it will 

 not be " tremulous on Avires." Such is the way 

 in which the solid bones of the limbs of the 

 elephant bear on each other ; from the blade 

 bone to the foot the line is straight, and conse- 



