409 
THE HAND — ITS MECHANISM, c^'C. 
action with the exercise of the senses, and especially wdth that 
of touch, to constitute in the hand what has been called the 
geometrical sense. 
He describes the organ of touch, the cuticle, and skin; arranges 
the nerves of the hand, according to their functions; and then 
inquires into the correspondence between the capacities and en¬ 
dowments of the mind in comparison with the external organs, 
and more particularly with the properties of the hand ; and 
concludes by shewing that animals have been created with a 
reference to the globe they inhabit; that all their endowmients 
and various organization bear a relation to their state of exist¬ 
ence, and to the elements around them ; that there is a yjlan 
universal, extending through all animated nature, and which has 
prevailed in the earliest condition of the world ; and that, finally, 
in the most minute or most comprehensive study of these things, 
we everywhere see prospective design. 
Having furnished our readers with the outline, we shall pro¬ 
ceed to give them a view of some of the shade and colouring 
of the work. The field which the subject opens to us is un¬ 
bounded : we shall give the following description of the bones of 
the shoulder of the horse as an example, and w'e have selected 
this part as being one of interest to us veterinarians. 
“ If w^e attend to the scapula, or shoulder-blade, we shall 
better understand the influence of the bones of the shoulder on 
the motions and speed of animals. Some interest is attached to 
the position of the scapula in the horse. The horse possesses 
no clavicle, and the connexion betw'een the extremity and the 
trunk is solely through muscles. That muscle called sen at us 
magnuSy which is a large one in man, is particularly powerful in 
the horse; for the weight of the trunk hangs upon this muscle. 
In the horse, as in most quadrupeds, the speed results from the 
streno'th of the loins and hinder extremities, for it is the muscles 
there which propel the animal. But were the anterior extremi¬ 
ties joined to the trunk firmly and by bone, they could not with¬ 
stand the shock from the descent of the whole weight thrown 
forwards: even though they were as pow'erful as the posterior ex¬ 
tremities, thev would sufler fracture or dislocation. We cannot 
hut admire, therefore, the provision in all quadrupeds whose 
speed is great, and whose spring is extensive, that from the 
structure of their bones they have an elastic resistance, by which 
the shock of descending is diminished. 
“ If we observe the bones of the anterior extremity of the horse, 
wc shall see that the scapula is oblique to the chest; the humerus 
oblique to the scapula ; and the bones of the lore-arm at an 
angle with the humerus. Were these bones connected together 
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