CHAPTER IX. 



Guards Against Concussion. 



In all animals wliicli have to progress witli any degree of celerity 

 on pedal extremities, nature has provided guards against the injuri- 

 ous effects of concussion. In considering the proper manner of 

 keeping effective the natural pi-ovision in the foot of the horse, a 

 brief comparison with other quadrupeds ^vill not be out of place. 

 In all are contrivances, admirable and complete, in a state of nat\ire, 

 for the intended uses, and valuable lessons will reward the investiga- 

 tor in this department of animal economy. In former papers I have 

 alluded to the foot of the greyhound, and now the antitheton of that 

 fleet courser will come under review. There could scarcely be two 

 animals selected which are more dissimilar than the gi-eyhound and 

 elephant — the former a type of grace, agility, lightness, the other 

 massive in its hugeness — so ponderous as to awaken a feeling of awe 

 in a person who has not been accustomed to seeing them. 



The skeleton of the greyhound diffei-s from that of the horse, in 

 there being a sharper angle between the shoulder-blade (scapula) and 

 the bone of the ui)per arm (humerus). From the elbow to the knee 

 is far longer in proportion in the dog, and the cannon, or metacar- 

 pals, correspondingly shorter. In place of the lower pastern shuttle 

 or navicular bone, and the coffin bone, the dog has digits similar to 

 those of the human hand, and these are in nearly a horizontal posi- 

 tion. The spring- of these digits, and the cushion of the sole, to- 

 gether with the angle of the scapula and humerus, are effective guards 



