MAMMIFEROUS QUADRUPEDS. 491 



The most complete instance of a vertical 

 arrangement of the bones of the extremities is 

 seen in the Elephant ; where in order to sustain 

 the enormous weight of the body, the limbs are 

 shaped into four massive columns, of which the 

 several bones are disposed nearly in perpen- 

 dicular lines. By this means the body is sup- 

 ported 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 dis- 

 order, 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 per^ 

 pendicularly to the ground, by contracting all 

 the muscular fibres which run transversely in 

 that organ, and thus formed 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 upon the ground. 



The conformation of the hind extremities, 

 which, as we have seen, is not so well calculated 



