174 



THE STEUCTUEE OF THE HOESE 



If they teach us nothing else, they afford a valuable 

 lesson as to our own ignorance, for if we cannot guess 

 at the meaning or use of a structure so conspicuous to 

 observation, and in an animal whose mode of life more 

 than any other we have had the fullest opportunity of 

 becoming intimately acquainted with, how can we be 

 expected to account off-hand for the endless strange 

 variations ol form or structure which occur among 

 animals whose lives are passed in situations entirely 

 secluded from human observation, and of whose habits 

 and methods of existence we know absolutely nothing ? 



The Hoofs 



Any one who has read this book so far must be fully 

 aware by this time that when we speak in ordinary 

 language of a horse's ' foot,' the part we intend to 

 designate is in reality the last joint of its toe. 



As the value of the horse to man depends almost 

 entirely upon its possessing this part in a sound and 

 healthy state, it is one to which an immense amount of 

 attention has been paid, and probably no other structure 



in all other respects closely resemble each other. (1) Meminna. 

 ' Chin entirely covered with hair. Hinder edge of the metatarsus 

 covered with hair, with a large, smooth, naked prominence on the 

 outer side rather below the hock.' (2) Tragulus. 1 Throat and chin 

 nakedish, subglandular, with a callous disc between the rami of the 

 lower jaw, from which a band extends to the fore part of the chin* 

 Hinder edge of the metatarsus naked and callous.' 



