14 FEET AND HANDS 



by it the foot becomes a hand. This comes about 

 by easy stages. The reason why one of a bird's four 

 toes is turned back is quite plain : trees are the 

 proper home of birds, and they require feet that will 

 grasp branches. So those beasts also that have 

 taken to living in trees have got one toe detached 

 more or less from the rest and arranged so that it 

 can co-operate with them to catch hold of a thing. 

 Then other changes quickly follow. For, in judging 

 whether you have got hold of a thing and how much 

 force you must put forth to keep hold of it, you are 

 guided entirely by the pressure on the finger-points, 

 and to gauge this pressure nicely the nerves must be 

 refined and educated. In fact, the exercise itself, 

 with the intent direction of the mind to the finger- 

 points, brings about the refinement and education 

 in accordance with Sandow's principle of muscle 

 culture. 



For an example of the result do not look at the 

 gross paw of any so-called anthropoid ape, gorilla, 

 orang-outang, or chimpanzee, but study the gentle 

 lemur. At the point of each digit is a broad elastic 

 pad, plentifully supplied with delicate nerves, and 

 the vital energy which has been directed into them 

 appears to have been withdrawn from the growth of 

 the claws, which have shrunk into fine nails just 

 shielding the fleshy tips. In short, the lemur has 

 a hand on each of its four limbs, and no feet at all. 

 And as it goes about its cage— I am at the Zoo in 

 spirit— with a silent wonder shining out of its great 



