THE ONE BIG DIGIT OF THE HORSE 253 



Even if there were always only one nutrient foramen in this 

 bone of the Horse, it would be no evidence that the Horse's meta- 

 tarsal bone is not genetically made up of a fusion of two, for all the 

 Ox family which I have examined in the Natural History Museum 

 have only one nutrient foramen in their metatarsal bones, although 

 they are admittedly made up of a fusion of two distinct bones \ There- 

 fore this case of two foramina given by Professor M'Fadyean is 

 the more remarkable and important. 



This abnormality and those cloven Horse's hands quoted from 

 Chauveau's work, and by Professor M'Fadyean, render it question- 

 able whether the Horse's digit is merely an enlarged one digit 

 (the iii.) as was supposed. 



I think that these teratological facts induce at least a suspicion, 

 if not a conviction, that the Horse's hand and foot may after all be 

 double organs in origin, like those of the Ox, fused into one, not 

 only in the metacarpal and metatarsal portions, as in the Ox, but 

 also in their phalangeal portions, that is, throughout, so as to 

 produce one solid hoof. 



If the Horse's metatarsal bone given by Professor M'Fadyean is 

 not a compound of two bones, then I do not see what business it has 

 with two nutrient foramina. I would ask, Why did two foramina 

 come there at all, when one is the normal state of things in Horses, 

 and when one is quite sufficient for the two fused bones of the 

 ruminants I have mentioned, if there were no reminiscence, of two 

 bones in origin^ 



You might ask, If, as you suppose, the common bone of the 

 Horse may be a fusion of two, why does it never disclose the line of 

 suture, as in the Ox ? Well, we do not know that in the millions of 

 Horses which have been bred no such disclosure has occurred ; all we 

 know is that it has not been noticed and recorded except in cases of 

 Cow-foot. Moreover, there are many skeletons of ruminants in the 



