THE PEDIGREE OP THE HORSE. 
475 
balanced, were apt to be very beautiful. On the same prin- 
ciple the beauty of the body of the horse probably has much 
to do with its being one of the best possible pieces of appa- 
ratus for running swiftly along the land. In many respects 
the organization of the horse departed in an extraordinary way 
from what may be called “ the average quadruped/' and the 
peculiarities to which he desired to call special attention were 
those of the fore limbs, the hind limbs, and the teeth. What 
was called the “ knee" of the horse was in reality the wrist of 
the animal. Human beings had two bones in the forearm, 
and this was also the case with most quadrupeds, but in the 
horse these two bones were completely fused and bound 
together into one. In most horses and asses the two bones 
were soldered together, and the shaft of the ulna nearly dis- 
appeared. The horse's hoof answered to the fingers of the 
human hand, only in the hooFsome of the bones and fingers 
of the hand were missing, and the horse in reality rests upon 
the end of the nail of the middle finger. What has become 
of the other fingers ? Two of them were taken away, and 
two of the other bones were reduced to little splints, which 
could be seen from the outside of the horse's foot. This 
peculiarity was found only in these animals. In the hind 
legs of the horse the small bone was reduced as in the fore 
legs, and the middle toe was there with its nail made into a 
hoof. Sometimes horses were born with extra toes, and there 
was a specimen of this kind in the museum of the College of 
Surgeons. At the present time also there was a South 
American pony in the Victoria Docks with an extra toe to 
each hoof, and the toes could be felt by the finger. If these 
facts were interpreted by the doctrine of evolution, what did 
it say ? It said that the ancestors of the horse must at 
one time have had the leg and foot bones complete, although 
these were blotted out before the horse was turned into 
a perfect running machine. On going back to the upper 
miocene period — a time when the world altogether differed 
from its present condition as regarded its geographical 
features — the horse was still found with all its present 
peculiarities, and the two differ from each other only in minute 
details. But side by side with the remains of the horse in 
this deposit were the remains of another horse-like creature, 
called the “ hipparion," or “ little horse." As much was 
known about the hipparion as about the horse. There was 
no break in the series of time, for both are found in the same 
deposit. In the fore limb of the hipparion the leg bones were 
united, but the extra one was traceable, and the leg bones 
were nearer to the average type ; the animal also had two 
