190 ANIMAL MOTION. 



wards, and therefore they have the hollows of their joints 

 turned towards each other. The elephant is not formed in 

 the way some have said, but sits down and bends its legs, 

 only it cannot bend them on both sides simultaneously, 

 because of its weight, but sinks down on its right or left 

 side, and sleeps in this position. The elephant bends its 

 hind legs, just like Man."* 



Aristotle's comparison between the limbs of Man and 

 the elephant and those of other animals was based on an 

 examination of their external appearance. Viewed in this 

 way, the real structure of their limbs may be easily mis- 

 understood. The elephant has long femoral and humeral 

 bones, very highly inclined, and its knee-joints consequently 

 come low down and are not hidden in any way. Its limbs 

 are, therefore, more easily comparable with those of Man, 

 and the similarity is seen at once. On the other hand, the 

 comparatively short length and usually small inclination of 

 the femoral and humeral bones of the horse and many other 

 animals cause the knee-joints to come close to the body, and 

 even to be partly hidden within its skin, while the joints 

 between the radius and tibia and the corresponding cannon 

 bones are very conspicuous, and may be easily taken for the 

 knee-joints. 



Although Aristotle says, in the passage cited above, that 

 elephants bend their legs and sit or lie down, he asserts, in 

 P. A. ii. c. 16, 659a, that their forelegs are mere supports 

 and are useless for anything else, because of their slowness 

 and small adaptability for bending. He distinctly states 

 elsewhere that the old opinion about the elephant having no 

 joints in its legs is not true, and that this animal walks in 

 consequence of a bending at the hips and shoulders.! 

 Evidently he was not altogether free from the old opinion 

 which, strange to say, persisted until comparatively recent 

 times. 



According to Aristotle, the elephant cannot swim, but, 

 when crossing rivers, walks through the water as long as 

 the tip of its trunk is above it. t This is not quite correct. 

 The elephant can swim, and does so with probably less 

 relative immersion than other quadrupeds. Sir J. Emerson 

 Tennent says, however, that an elephant " generally prefers 

 to sink till no part of his huge body is visible, except the tip 

 of his trunk, through which he breathes, moving beneath the 



=■= H. A. ii. c. 1, s. 4. f De Anim. Incessu, c. 9. 



+ H. A. ix. c. 33. 



