PECULIAR TO MAN. 125 



carpus, but merely on the toes : the cloven-hoofed rumi- 

 nants (bisulca), and the solipeda, touch the ground merely 

 with the extremities of the third phalanges, and the os calcis 

 is raised nearly into a perpendicular position. Thus, as 

 we depart from man, the foot is more and more contracted 

 and elongated, the part serving for support reduced, and the 

 angle of the heel-bone rendered more acute. 



The great size of the os calcis, and particularly the bulk 

 and prominence of its posterior projection, to which the 

 powerful muscles of the calf are affixed, correspond to its 

 important office of supporting the back of the foot, and re- 

 sisting force applied to the front of the body. This single 

 bone is, therefore, an infallible characteristic of man ; and 

 " Ex calce hominem," would probably be a safer rule than 

 "Ex pede Herculem." 



The concavity of the sole is an arrangement rendered 

 necessary by the whole surface resting flat on the ground. It 

 provides room, for the muscles, nerves, vessels, and tendons 

 of the toes. It also assists the functions of the foot, by 

 enabling it to gain a kind of hold of the bodies on which it 

 rests, and to accommodate itself to unequal surfaces ; an 

 advantage almost destroyed by the use of shoes, but emi- 

 nently conspicuous in those people whose feet are not 

 cramped by artificial means of defence. 



The gradually increased breadth of the foot towards the 

 front, the predominance of its solid and nearly immoveable 

 parts, the tarsus and metatarsus over the more flexible toes, 

 the direction of the metatarsal bone supporting the great toe, 

 its situation and want of mobility, are circumstances of 

 strong contrast with the structure of the hand ; plainly 

 pointing out the former as organized for strength and re- 

 sistance, and adapted to increase the extent and solidity of 

 ■its support. 



A further argument to the same eflect may be drawn from 

 the comparative progress of ossification in the two members. 

 The bones of the tarsus, and particularly the os calcis, ossify 

 at an earlier period, and advance more rapidly in their de- 

 velopement than those of the carpus : very little strength of 



