FLEETNESS AND STRENGTH OF FOOT. 45 



trodden out by them in the precipitous and stony parts of 

 the mountain, or encounter the many obstructions of rock, 

 river, and precipice that rugged nature is continually oppos- 

 ing to them, in any other manner than in rank and file. If 

 they did they must separate, and lose the wind, which is 

 not their system. 



They do not run well up hill when fat, but they will 

 beat any dog in such oblique paths as I have mentioned. 

 The hardness and sharp edges of their hoofs gives them 

 great tenacity, and prevents their suffering from the stones ; 

 whilst a dog, having no fence against injury, is obliged to 

 slacken his pace. 



The bone also of a deer's foot is small and particularly 

 hard; it is this peculiar construction which renders the 

 animal as strong as he is fleet. The support and strength 

 of the joints of the feet of all animal bodies, according to 

 Sir E. Home, depends less upon their own ligaments than 

 upon the action of the muscles, whose tendons pass over 

 them. " This fact," he says, " was strongly impressed on 

 my mind in the early part of my medical education, by 

 seeing a deer which leaped over the highest fences, and the 

 joints of whose feet, when examined, were as rigid in every 

 other direction, but that of their motion, as the bone itself ; 

 but when the tendo Achilles, which passed over the joint, 

 was divided, with a view to keep the animal from running 

 away, the foot could readily be moved in any direction, the 

 joint no longer having the smallest firmness." 



Some old authorities attribute various medicinal virtues 

 to certain parts of the hart ; and, amongst the rest, the 

 author of the Treatise on Venerie very gravely asserts, 

 " That his marrow or grease is good for the gout, proceed- 

 ing from a cold cause, melting it, and rubbing the place 

 where the pain is therewith. Also the hart first taught us 

 to find the herb called Dictamus ; for when he is stricken 

 with an arrow or dart he seeketh out that herb, and eateth 

 thereof ; the which maketh the dart or arrow to fall out, 

 and healeth him immediately." 



Almost every part of the deer is excellent for the table : 

 the liver, the heart, the tripe, the feet, and the white 

 puddings, should not be neglected. The skin itself is manu- 



