. Tribune popular science . useful for support iu the marshes, but tho necessity for speed would sooner or later make ani-mals with fewer superllusus toes take precedenceof the others. The reduction in the number of toeamav in this manner be due to the gradual elevationand dryintrof the region inhabited. The strugglefor existence of the early horse was principally insuccessfully running away from beasts of , the hoof is a weapon of offense. At the presentday, if a horse wounded or a mare embarrassed withcolt, is overtaken by prairie wolves, the hoof is usedto great advantage, each kic
. Tribune popular science . useful for support iu the marshes, but tho necessity for speed would sooner or later make ani-mals with fewer superllusus toes take precedenceof the others. The reduction in the number of toeamav in this manner be due to the gradual elevationand dryintrof the region inhabited. The strugglefor existence of the early horse was principally insuccessfully running away from beasts of , the hoof is a weapon of offense. At the presentday, if a horse wounded or a mare embarrassed withcolt, is overtaken by prairie wolves, the hoof is usedto great advantage, each kick that strikes a wolfsquarely usually killing it. Nothing could be moreinconvenient than superfluous toes in kicking. Butwhat is to be done with the depression in front ofthe eye? This was developed without apparentreason and disappeared equally without reason. Ah,there are some things, perhaps, which even the de-velopment hypothesis cannot us tabulate our facts: * The two outer, smaller than those of a \ / a\ / •» \ / if W sr M XI £1 JK MODIFICATION OF TilK HOOF. (1) Forefoot of the (-) Foot i«f tlie .Miohippus. (3) Footof the Ilipparion. (4) Foot of the modern uorse as occasionally seen,with superfluous hoollrt. It will be seen that there are yet more worlds toconquer. Prof. Marsh lives iu the hope of seeingthe skeleton of the predecessor of tho Orohippus;say with four toes behind and live in front. Andhaving got that equine ancestor, he will not lie satis-lied till, somewhere at tho bottom of the eocene, oreven back in tho cretaceous deposits, he finds thegreatest-great-grandfather of all the horses, which should be about tho size of a first-class bhu k-and-tan, and should have live well-defined toes on eachfoot. the ground. With this fossil in hispossession. Trot. Marsh would probably be able to en-joy life without goiugto tho liocky Mountains everyBummer, Have ice Two Brains ? by Dr. liroicn-Stquard. 29 HAVE WE TWO BRAINS?
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectscience, bookyear1874
