2 8 love's meinie. 



think it highly desirable for you to know, but 

 which it is not my business to teach you. Only 

 observe, this is the point to be made out. 

 You leap yourselves, with the toe and ball 

 of the foot ; but, in that power of leaping, 

 you lose the faculty of grasp ; on the contrary, 

 with your hands, you grasp as a bird with its 

 feet. But you cannot hop on your hands. A 

 cat, a leopard, and a monkey, leap or grasp 

 with equal ease ; but the action of their paws 

 in leaping is, I imagine, from the fleshy ball 

 of the foot ; while in the bird, characteristi- 

 cally 'yafi-y^rcovv^, this fleshy ball is reduced to 

 a boss or series of bosses, and the nails are 

 elongated into sickles or horns; nor does 

 the springing power seem to depend on the 

 development of the bosses. They are far 

 more developed in an eagle than a robin ; 

 but you know how unpardonably and pre- 

 posterously awkward an eagle is when he 

 hops. When they are most of all developed, 

 the bird walks, runs, and digs well, but leaps 

 badly. 



27. I have no time to speak of the various 

 forms of the ankle itself, or of the scales of 

 armour, more apparent than real, by which 



