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corresponding reduction and removal of the outer one; next, of 

 the second and fourth digits, until it is reduced to the middle 

 digit, as in the horse. 



The innermost toe, the first to dwindle and disappear in the 

 brute series, is, in Man, developed to a maximum size, becoming 

 emphatically the ' great toe,' one of the most essential charac- 

 teristics of the human frame. It is made the powerful fulcrum 

 for that lever of the second kind, which has its resistance in the 

 tibio-astragalar joint, and the power applied to the projecting heel- 

 bone : the superincumbent weight is carried further forward upon 

 the foot, by the more advanced position of the astragalus, than in 

 the ape tribe; and the heel-bone is much stronger, and projects 

 more backwards. 



The arrangement of the powerfully-developed tarsal and meta- 

 tarsal bones is such as to form, in Man, a bony arch, of which the 

 two piers rest upon the proximal joint of the great toe and the end 

 of the heel. Well-developed cuneiform bones combine with the 

 cuboid to form a second arch, transverse to the first. There are no 

 such modifications in the gorilla or orang, in which the arch, or 

 rather the bend of the long and narrow sole, extends to the extreme 

 end of the long and curved digits, indicating a capacity for grasping. 

 Upon these two arches the superincumbent weight of man is solidly 

 and sufficiently maintained, as upon a low dome, with this further 

 advantage, that the different joints, cartilages, coverings, and 

 synovial membranes, give a certain elasticity to the dome, so that 

 in leaping, running, or dropping from a height, the jar is diffused 

 and broken before it can be transmitted to affect the enormous 

 brain-expanded cranium. The lower limbs in man are longer in 

 proportion to the trunk than in any other known mammalian 

 animal. The kangaroo might seem to be an exception, but if the 

 hind limbs of the kangaroo are measured in relation to the trunk, 

 they are shorter than in the human subject. In no animal is the 

 femur so long in proportion to the leg as in man. In none does 

 the tibia expand so much at its upper end. Here it presents two 

 broad, shallow cavities, for the reception of the condyles of the 

 femur. Of these condyles, in man only is the innermost longer 

 than the outermost; so that the shaft of the bone inclines a little 

 outwards to its upper end, and joins a ' neck ' longer than in other 

 animals, and set on at a very open angle. The weight of the body, 

 received by the round heads of the thigh bones, is thus transferred 

 to a broader base, and its support in the upright posture facilitated. 



