PHYSIOLOGICAL PARADOXES. 



central toe, which grew longer and longer while 

 the side ones grew weaker and smaller, and even- 

 tually dwindled away and disappeared, the 

 only evidence in the modern horse of their 

 presence in remote ancestors being ridges down 

 the sides of the bone in the one toe that re- 

 mains, enlarged and strengthened, to do the 

 work of the original five. 



The horse's foot, then, has undergone two 

 remarkable developments, one by which the 

 two toes on each side of the foot have dis- 

 appeared, leaving only rudiments behind ; the 

 other by which that toe has been converted 

 practically into leg, leaving nothing but the 

 enlarged and thickened nail to rest in con- 

 tact with the ground. 



In the latter respect the horse has had a 

 modern rival in the ballet dancer, whose aim 

 seems to be to twirl on the ball, or, if possible, 

 on the point of the toe. The effort leads to 

 anything but graceful and beautiful movements ; 

 but audiences are supposed to crave more for 

 the astonishing than for the graceful and beau- 

 tiful. The most successful danseuse has not 

 yet got beyond dancing on the point of the toe ; 

 whereas, when Madame Twirlini comes to the 

 theatre for the performance, the horses which 

 draw her carriage prance, not merely on the 

 points of their toes, but on the ends of the toe- 

 nails. The common cab-horse, if it does not 

 dance in the same attitude, at any rate employs 



302 



