THE HORSE A BALLET DANCER. 



beyond the ankle-joint. But here we come 

 upon a remarkable difference. In the horse 

 K is a single bone with the most rudimentary 

 traces of other bones down its sides. In man 

 there are five bones side by side at L, the meta- 

 tarsal bones, running down from the tarsus 

 in front of the ankle-joint to the roots of the 

 toes. 



What is the explanation of this difference 

 if these members in the two kinds of animals 

 correspond ? 



Among ancient fossils there have recently 

 been found a number of bones belonging to 

 animals which were in many respects like the 

 horse, but smaller, and possessed of a greater 

 number of toes. An examination of them leads 

 to the conclusion that the ancestors of our 

 horses were originally five-toed creatures, whose 

 descendants acquired the habit of resting more 

 and more upon the fore part of the foot until 

 the heel remained permanently in the air more 

 than half-way up to the body, and the tarsus 

 and toes obtained a similar rise in the world, 

 so that at last the creatures were left standing, 

 not even on the tips of the toes not on the 

 toes at all, but on the toe-nails, which for this 

 purpose had become enormously developed 

 both in size and thickness into what we call 

 hoofs. 



But the work of supporting the body was 

 gradually concentrated more upon the long 



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