Page:Geology and Mineralogy considered with reference to Natural Theology, 1837, volume 1.djvu/130

 126 twenty-eight inches. This enormous bone, pressing on the ground, gives a firm bearing and solid support to the continuous accumulation of weight, which we have been tracing down from the pelvis through the thigh and leg: in fact the heel-bone occupies nearly one-half of the entire length of the hind-foot; the bones of the toes are all short, excepting the extreme joint, which forms an enormous claw-bone; larger than the largest of those in the fore-foot, measuring thirteen inches in circumference, and having within its sheath a core, ten inches long, for the support of the horny claw with which it was invested. The chief use of this large claw was probably to keep the hind-foot fixed steadily upon the ground.

Feet and legs thus heavily constructed, must have been very inefficient organs of rapid locomotion, and may consequently seem imperfect, if considered in relation to the ordinary functions of other quadrupeds; but, viewed as instruments adapted for supporting an almost stationary creature, of unusual weight, they claim our admiration equally with every other piece of animal mechanism, when its end and uses are understood. The perfection of any instrument can only be appreciated by looking to the work it is intended to perform. The hammer and anvil of an anchor smith, though massive, are neither clumsy nor imperfect; but bear the same proportionate relation to the work in which they are employed, as the light and fine tools of the watchmaker bear to the more delicate wheels of his chronometer.

Another remarkable character of the Megatherium, in which it approaches most nearly to the Armadillo, and