CONCERNING ANIMALS 



i 



FEET AND HANDS 



It is evident that, in what is called the evolution 

 of animal forms, the foot came in suddenly when 

 the backboned creatures began to live on the dry 

 land — that is, with the frogs. How it came in is 

 a question which still puzzles the phylogenists, who 

 cannot find a sure pedigree for the frog. There it 

 is, anyhow, and the remarkable point about it is 

 that the foot of a frog is not a rudimentary thing, 

 but an authentic standard foot, like the yard measure 

 kept in the Tower of London, of which all other feet 

 are copies or adaptations. This instrument, as 

 part of the original outfit given to the pioneers of 

 the brainy, backboned, and four-limbed races, 

 when they were sent out to multiply and replenish 

 the earth, is surely worth considering well. It 

 consists essentially of a sole, or palm, made up of 

 small bones and of -five separate digits, each with 

 several joints. 



In the hind foot of a frog the toes are very long 

 and webbed from point to point. In this it differs 



