FOOT OF THE ELEPHANT. 81 



other animals ; but, in tlie elephant, which requires greater solidity and col- 

 umnar strength, it not being given to bounding about, and having enormous 

 bulk to be supported, the scapula, humerus, ulna and radius are almost in a 

 perpendicular line. Owing to this rigid foi-mation the elephant cannot spring. 

 No greater hoax was ever jjerpetrated on the pujjlic than that in one of our 

 illustrated papers, wliich gave a picture of an elephant hurdle-race. Mr. San- 

 derson, in his most interesting book, says: " He is physically incapable of 

 making the smallest spring, either in vertical height or horizontal distance. 

 Thus a trench seven feet wide is impassable to an elephant, though the step of 

 a large one, in full stride, is about six and a half feet." 



The hind limbs are also peculiarly formed, and bear some resemblance to 

 the arrangement of the human bones, and in these the same perpendicular dis- 

 position is to be observed ; the pelvis is set nearly vertically to the vertebral 

 column, and the femur and tibia are in almost a direct line. The fibula, or 

 small bone of the leg, which is subject to great variation amongst animals (it 

 being merely rudimentary in the horse, for instance), is distinct in the elejjhant 

 and is considerably enlarged at the lower end. The tarsal bones are short 

 and the digits have the usual number of phalanges, the ungual, or nail-bearing 

 one, being^small and rounded. 



Another thing that strikes every one is the noiseless tread of this huge 

 beast. To describe the mechanism of the foot of the elephant concisely and 

 simply, I am going to give a few extracts from the observations of Professor 

 W. Boyd Dawkins and Messrs. Oakley, Miall and Greenwood: "It stands 

 on the ends of its five toes, each of which is terminated by comparatively 

 small hoofs, and the heel bone is a little distance from the ground. Beneath 

 comes the wonderful cushion composed of membranes, fat, nerves and blood- 

 vessels, besides muscles, which constitutes the sole of the foot." — ( W. B. D., 

 and H. 0. ) — of the foot as a whole, and this remark applies to both fore and 

 hind extremities ; the separate mobility of the parts is greater than would be 

 suspected from an external inspection, and much greater than in most ungu- 

 lates. The palmar and plantar soles, though thick and tough, are not rigid 

 boxes like hoofs, but may be made to bend, even by human fingers. The 

 large development of muscles acting upon the carpus and tarsus, and the sepa- 

 rate existence of flexors and extensors of individual digits, is further proof 

 that the elephant's foot is far from being a solid, unalterable mass. Tiiere 

 are, as has been pointed out, tendinous or ligamentous attachments, which 

 restrain the independent action of some of these muscles, but anatomical ex- 

 aminations would lead us to suppose that the living animal could at all events 

 accurately direct any part of the circumference of the foot by itself on the 

 ground. The metacarpal and metatarsal bones form a considerable angle mth 

 the surface of the sole, while the digits, when supporting the weight of the 

 body, are nearly horizontal.— (J/", and G^.)— This formation would naturally 



