Anatomy, Artistic; Animals in art; Zoological illustration
With regard to the third phalanx, it presents the form of a triangular
pyramid, and displays a postero-superior concave surface with which the
second phalanx articulates; an anterior, convex surface, which
terminates in a point on its anterior part; and an internal surface,
which is flattened. The third phalanx of each digit is contained in a
hoof (_onglon_).
There is also found in ruminants two imperfect rudimentary digits, which
are represented by two small bones situated behind the articulation of
the metacarpal and the digits which we have just been studying. These
rudimentary digits are each enveloped in a layer of horn; they
constitute the _spurs_. The two digits of the ruminants represent the
third and fourth fingers of the human hand; the two lateral digits,
greatly atrophied, are the homologues of the second and fifth fingers;
the thumb is not present.
It is the same as regards the metacarpal bones, which form, by their
union, the principal metacarpal; the external represents the fourth
metacarpal, and the internal the third. It is to the latter that the
tubercle, of which we have already made mention, belongs; and with the
signification of which, because it gives attachment to a muscle, we
shall concern ourselves in the section on myology (see Radial Muscles).
=Unguligrades=: =Horse= (Fig. 40).--The scapula is narrow, compared with
that of the animals we have just been considering. The anterior border
is convex in its superior portion, and concave in its inferior; the
posterior border is slightly hollowed out. The supraspinous fossa is
less in extent than the infraspinous; but the difference is less
than that between the same fossæ in the ox and the sheep; in the
ox, as we have already indicated, the proportion is one-third; in
the horse, one-half. The spine, which disappears at the extremities,
is rough and thick in its middle third, there forming a kind of
tuberosity--_tuberosity of the spine_. Above and in front of the glenoid
cavity is found a strong process consisting of a rugous base, and a
summit which is directed inwards. This forms a kind of hook curved
towards the inside; it represents the coracoid process. The scapula is
surmounted by the cartilage of prolongation, of which the superior
border, which is thin and curved, is parallel to the superior border of
the prominence of the withers; the cartilage forms, consequently, the
lateral surface of this region. The cartilage of prolongation undergoes
ossification in old horses. The humerus is short; the bicipital groove,
situated on the anterior surface of the superior extremity, separates
the greater tuberosity from the lesser, and is divided into two parts by
a median ridge; it is this portion of the humerus which forms the
prominence known as the _point of the shoulder_, or _point of the arm_.
The deltoid impression well deserves the name of tuberosity which has
been given to it, for it is very prominent; the musculo-spiral groove is
very deep.
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