THE PIG. 3^3 



surrounding conditions. If we examine the foot of the pig 

 {see Fig. 185), which, Hke the horse, has hoofs ; we shall find 

 that it has two toes upon which it walks, and two supple- 

 mentary digits which do not touch the ground. As the 

 function makes the organ, we may confidently assert that 

 ancestors of the pig walked on these four toes, two of which, 

 apparently from disuse, have become reduced to their present 



Fig. \%6.—{Aficr Gaiidry.) Hipparion Gracile (^gth real height\ 



insignificant size. We may, with equal certainty, affirm that, 

 if the pig remains under its present conditions of life, which, 

 as we all know, do not demand work from its small side 

 toes, these digits will in process of time disappear, and their 

 metacarpal and metatarsal bones will become as rudimentary 

 as the splint-bones of the horse. Even if it were objected 

 that these facts did not warrant us in assuming that the 



Y 2 



