MAMMIFEROUS QUADRUPEDS. 435 



power than those of the hinder legs to retain them 

 in their proper relative positions. 



The most complete instance of a vertical ar- 

 rangement of the bones of the extremities is seen 

 in the Elephant ; where in order to sustain the 

 enormous w^eight of the body, the limbs are shaped 

 into four massive columns, of which the several 

 bones are disposed nearly in perpendicular lines. 

 By this means the body is supported with scarcely 

 any muscular effort ; and the attitude of standing- 

 is, in this animal, a state of such complete repose, 

 that it often sleeps in that position. The elephant 

 which was kept some years ago at the Menagerie 

 at Paris, although much enfeebled by a lingering 

 disorder, was never seen to lie down till the day on 

 which he died. When he was in the last stage of 

 debility, what seemed to give him most distress 

 was the effort requisite to support his head ; and in 

 order to relieve the muscles of the neck which were 

 strained in that exertion, he was in the habit of 

 extending his trunk perpendicularly to the ground, 

 by contracting all the muscular fibres which run 

 transversely in that organ, and of thus forming a 

 vertical prop for the head. But in almost all other 

 quadrupeds the mere act of standing, though a 

 state of comparative rest, implies, for the reasons 

 already given, a degree of muscular exertion ; and 

 they can enjoy complete repose only by letting the 

 body recline on the ground. 



The conformation of the hind extremities, which, 

 as we have seen, is not so well calculated for the 

 simple support of the trunk, is, on the other hand, 

 better adapted to give it those impulses which are 



