SHORT-LEGGED ANIMALS. 65 



like manner, advance by means of the winding or ser- 

 pentine direction which they give to their bodies, and 

 by which a succession of oblique forces are brought to 

 act against the ground. Sir Everard Home is of opin- 

 ion that serpents use their ribs in the manner of legs, 

 and propel the body forwards by bringing the plates 

 on the under surface of the body to act successively, 

 like feet, against the ground. Some worms and larvae, 

 of slow motion, extend a part of their body forwards, 

 and draw up the rest to overtake it, — some performing 

 this motion in a direct line, others in curves. 



When land animals swim in the water, they are sup- 

 ported because their whole weight, with the lungs ex- 

 panded with air, is less than that of an equal bulk of 

 "water. The head, however, or a part of it, must be kept 

 above water, to enable the animal to breathe ; and, to 

 effect this, and also to make progress in the water, the 

 limbs are exerted in successive impulses against the 

 fluid. Quadrupeds and birds swim with less effort 

 than man, because the weight of the head, which is 

 carried above water, is in them a smaller proportional 

 part of the whole than it is in man. 



SHORT-LEGGED ANIMALS. 



Our most judicious farmers prefer the shortest-legged 

 neat stock, both for milk and for labor, and many are 

 beginning to doubt whether even a long-leg horse is 

 better than one with short legs. They have formed 

 their judgment from experience, — the only true test in 

 all matters of this kind. Many learned arguments may 

 be adduced in favor of long legs ; and', if the commu- 

 nity should come to the conclusion on the subject by 

 mere reasoning, without regard to experience, we be- 



