Scientific Lectures. 155 



the bones belonging to the upper portion of the instep to the insertion 

 of the toes. The toes and the rest of the foot I had a very good 

 example, for in the Ignandon I had at Sydenham, which was larger 

 than this same beast, but had the inconvenience of being so much 

 stouter that we could hardly suppose it to be possible for it to stand 

 erect on its hind legs, as this creature must have done. I suppose, 

 owing to the succulence of the food_, and the want of exercise in . 

 roaming over one little island, lest it should /' step oif," as an Ameri- 

 can would say, made him so large that he was incapable of doing as 

 much with his legs as this animal must have done. But he had a 

 great capacity of body, so great that, in 1853, I invited twenty-one 

 of my fi-iends into that same body, and gave them, I assure you, a 

 very good dinner (applause). That would not be possible, however, 

 within the limits of this creature's ribs, although it was practically 

 eaid that the ribs of the Iguandon resounded with mirth as well as 

 good cheer on that occasion. I beg to call attention to the extraordi- 

 nary fact that this creature being thus elevated upon his legs, it seems 

 almost impossible to imagine his progression on all fours. [Drawing 

 the outline on the blackboard.] But if we suppose the body now to 

 be brought down to the ground in this position [drawing the outline], 

 80 that the creature could reach the ground with his short fore-limbs, 

 it would bring him into an inconvenient attitude. We know very 

 •\fell that the kangaroo, of which he seems to be a gigantic represen- 

 tative, has the power of coming down with his fore-legs to the ground, 

 and this creature may have done it in the same manner as the kanga- 

 roo. Now, when he brings his fore-feet to the ground, this tail takes 

 off the weight of the body from those front limbs, allowing the 

 creature in that attitude to progress, the tail by its weight and lever- 

 age relieving the front limbs of the weight of the body, showing us 

 the necessity for that arrangement of the structure, which is no degree 

 accidental ; for it is impossible to overlook the design and intention 

 of that exceptional capability of change according to circumstances, 

 BO that the very structure that would form the body of a fish, here 

 forms the tail of a creature walking the earth, and answers by its 

 conformation all the necessities of that structure, as I have shown 

 you. If you will allow me for a moment I will show you that, in 

 many respects, this is a form resembling that of the moa, an ancient 

 New Zealand bird. You have an American ostrich, the skelton of 

 which is the same, bone for bone, the variation being only in size. 

 Perhaps the wing of the rhea, or American ostrich, would be a little 



