10 Proceedings of the Boyal Physical Society. 



(1753) sought to bring the horse into line with man by 

 asserting that the main metacarpal bone is the representative 

 of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th human metacarpals; the rudi- 

 mentary metacarpals of the horse corresponding to the 

 metacarpals of the thumb and little finger of man. 



A century later (1853) Joly and Lavocat expressed a 

 somewhat similar view. They also considered the horse to 

 be a pentadactyl animal, in which fusion of some bones has 

 taken place ; but they differed from Daubenton in being of 

 opinion that the chief metacarpal has been produced by 



F,j. 1. 



fusion of the 3rd and 4th bones only. It is further averred 

 by them that the third phalanx bears witness to the fusion 

 of the 3rd and 4th digits. As is well known, the 3rd phalanx 

 of the adult horse most frequently possesses a notch of 

 greater or less depth about the middle of its sharp convex 

 border. It is difficult to say when this notch was first 

 observed, but early in the last century it was held to be 

 produced by shoeing. Joly and Lavocat denied this, the 

 then generally accepted explanation, and suggested that the 

 notch was neither more nor less than an indication of the 

 point of union of two phalanges. 



