612 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



os pedis, os naviculare, ossa sesamoidese total, 20 on each side. 

 The bones behind include the femur, patella, tibia, fibula, 6 

 tarsal bones, 3 metatarsals, os suiYraginis, os coronse, os pedis, 

 os naviculare, 2 ossa sesamoideae total, 19 on each side. 



By reference to the skeleton and names of bones on another 

 page, the reader may be able to locate and understand the rela- 

 tion of each of the bones named above. It is an interesting 

 fact that there is no essential point of difference between the 

 bones of the human and equine races, except the teeth. The 

 chief divergence between the bones of their faces, jaws, ribs 

 and pelvis is in form. The teeth vary in construction and 

 material. 



A careful study of the frame-work of the horse, in com- 

 parison with that of man, will reveal a striking similarity. Take, 

 for example, the function and form of the shoulder-blades. It 

 will be seen how strongly the humerus of the horse bears like- 

 ness to that of man. On this point a writer in the Farm and 

 Fireside Library says : 



" Next comes the radius, with its prolongation forming the 

 elbow; next, the carpal bones, occurring in the knee of the 

 horse, and in the wrist of man; next, the metncarpals, corre- 

 sponding to the fi>e bones of the hand, and which in the horse 

 now number but three, viz : the large metacarpal or cannon 

 bone, and the two small metacarpals or splints ; but the re- 

 searches of Marsh and others into the history of the fossil 

 horse, have shown that the earliest forms of the horse probably 

 possessed five metacarpals, with the corresponding toes, and that 

 the one now left corresponds to the larger or middle finger of 

 man. From this point down the relationship between the three 

 bones below the fetlock, the lower one its horny hoof, with the 

 three bones below the knuckle, the last one with its horny nail, 

 is easily perceived." In like manner the resemblances between 

 the bones of hind limbs of the horse and the lower limbs of 

 man may be traced. 



The Frame-work an Index of Value. It is of the 

 first importance, that every breeder or buyer of horses, cattle, or 

 swine should be so familiar with their frame-work as to be 



