322 



EVOLUTION OF THE HORSE. 



that they are provided with a more or less perfect pastern 

 and hoof. From time to time, there have been well authen- 

 ticated instances of horses which were so completely furnished 

 in this respect on their front feet, that instead of having 

 been shod on only four feet, they carried iron on eight. I 

 need hardly say that the four supplementary shoes were 

 applied merely for exhibition purposes. Such a digit is well 

 shown in Fig. 184, which represents the bones of a colt's near 



Fig. 185.— Front Foot of Pig (^th real length). 



fore leg that was given by Professor Goubaux to the Veteri- 

 nary College at Alfort. These new digits are no functionless 

 monstrosities^ like a sixth finger or toe which sometimes ap- 

 pears on the hand or foot of man ; but are the restorations 

 of parts once borne by the horse's ancestors. Here we have 

 a good exemplification of the struggle which is constantly 

 going on in the animal body, between the tendency to 

 preserve the ancestral type, and the effort to adapt itself to its 



