496 ACTS OF RUNNING AND LEAPING. 



and hind feet are raised and advanced together. Now, if we 

 consider the fore-feet of a horse as constituting the four angles 

 of a parallelogram, it is easy to see that the base of support, 

 when the feet are thus raised, will be one of its diagonals ; 

 and as the feet are alternately advanced, the weight will 

 alternately be thrown upon these two lines. But the centre 

 of gravity in the horse, especially when carrying a rider, is in 

 a point almost exactly above that at which the two diagonals 

 cross ; so that it is always supported either by the one or the 

 other. The gallop of greatest speed is a run performed on 

 the same plan as the trot ; that is, the right fore and left 

 hind feet leave and reach the ground together, and then the 

 left fore and right hind feet are advanced. The canter is a 

 kind of step altogether different. The four legs strike the 

 ground successively, the left hind foot reaching it first, the 

 right hind foot second, the left fore foot third, and the right 

 fore foot fourth. The celebrated race-horse Eclipse, when 

 galloping at liberty and with his greatest speed, passed over 

 the space of 25 feet at each stride or leap ; this he repeated 

 2jL times in a second, so as to pass over 58 feet in that time, 

 which was at the rate of nearly 4 miles in six minutes and 

 two seconds. But this performance was completely surpassed 

 by that of Flying Childers, who was computed to have 

 passed over 82| feet in a second, or nearly a mile in a 

 minute. 



661. In leaping, the body is projected into the air by the 

 sudden extension of the joints, especially those of the hinder 

 part of the body which had been previously bent ; and having 

 traversed a greater or less distance, the body comes again to 

 the ground and may be again projected. This is a kind of 

 motion usually practised by many animals whose structure is 

 expressly adapted to it. Thus among Mammals we find se- 

 veral in which the hind legs are enormously elongated, for 

 the purpose of giving greater quickness to the motion of the 

 body ; and their muscles are developed to an extraordinary 

 degree in order to supply the necessary force. This is the 

 case among most of the animals of the order Rodentia, such 

 as the Hare, Rabbit, Squirrel, &c. ; but particularly in the 

 Jerboa or Jumping Rat, and in the Kangaroo and its allies. 

 In these animals the fore feet, which are little used for pro- 

 gression, are comparatively small j and in the last they are 



