6 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HORSE’S FOOT. 
analogy between them ; and that while the latter is a most 
perfect instrument — as richly endowed as a tactile and pre- 
hensile organ as it is complicated in its mechanism — the 
former is nothing more than an insensitive mass of horn, de- 
signed to sustain the roughest usage in its natural or artificial, 
state — to be, in fact, treated like a block of wood. 
In this way the hand of man has certainly received its 
due meed of praise and admiration, while the human foot has 
been no less extolled. “Where,” exclaims Mr. Hancock,* 
“ in the whole range of mechanics, architecture, or engineer- 
ing, can we meet with such a structure as this ?” Doubtless 
these organs are very perfect, and wisely designed to per- 
form certain functions under certain conditions. But it is 
questionable whether our wonder and admiration are not 
Pig. 2. 
more excited by an attentive examination of the same regions 
in the horse, or whether we do not find more to interest us 
in the matter of design and adaptation than we discover in 
either the hand or foot of our own species. 
# ‘ The Lancet/ June 9th, 1866. 
