492 THE POSITION ASSUMED BY THE FORE-FOOT. 
have extended a horse’s foot so far as to succeed in placing the 
heel first to the ground ; but from such an experiment it is not 
to be inferred that a horse in action does the same, as such a 
movement would not accord with that reservation of muscular 
power which is required to make good the stepping, i. e. the 
bracing up of the muscles to the performance of a succession 
of progressive movements. 
In the horse’s natural action, at the period of greatest 
extension, and prior to the implantation of the foot, I am of 
opinion that flexion takes place in its descent ; that the knee 
(carpus) bends; and that the toes and outer edges of the feet 
come to the ground first ; and that in leaving the ground the 
bearing takes place from the inner edge, the central line of 
gravity, and the toes, as a fulcrum, to propel the body forwards 
and upwards ; yet so rapid, simple, and complete are the 
means by which all this is effected that, to a casual observer, 
the foot seems to come perfectly flat to the ground. Your 
correspondent places great weight on the universal admission 
that man places his heels first to the ground. I have before 
remarked that there are good reasons against admitting as 
comparisons any animal but those of the solipede tribes. 
Man treads on his os calcis, the part corresponding to the 
point of the hock in the horse. A man’s anatomical con- 
struction is such as to give an opposite direction to his spine, 
fitting him for the erect position, and changing the direction 
of his power from the longitudinal of quadrupeds to the 
vertical or columnar line. To enable an animal (as man) to 
preserve the balance of his upright body, he is provided with 
suitable means in numerous phalangeal and tarsal bones, 
protected by connecting and tegumentary coverings, alto- 
gether affording a considerable ground- surface. In walking 
a man plants his heels first ; in running he plants his toes 
very lightly ; and in jumping he finds it less concussive to 
alight on his toes than on his heels, to do which is notoriously 
unpleasant and jarring, as the concussion is more suddenly 
and unequally distributed. 
The provisions for warding off concussion are, perhaps, 
never more amply displayed than when one reflects on the 
anatomical construction and disposition of the parts in 
walking animals, of which solipedes are not the least in- 
teresting in their pedal extremities, protected externally by a 
dense horny covering, with its thousand fibres, and internal 
laminae, its areolar tissue, cartilages, bones, and tendons, 
anastomosing arteries, and valveless veins. 
Mr. Gamgee contends that “ the rebounding structures at 
the posterior part of the foot” are admirably adapted to 
