fore foot, there are merely two splints to
represent the second and fourth toes. Sometimes a rudiment of a
fifth toe appears to be traceable."

Having in the same fashion described the highly complicated and
peculiar structure of the teeth of modern horses, Huxley proceeded:

"To anyone who is acquainted with the morphology of vertebrated
animals, these characteristic structures of the horse show that
it deviates widely from the general structure of mammals; and
that the horse type is, in many respects, an extreme modification
of the general mammalian plan. The least modified mammals, in
fact, have the radius and ulna, the tibia and fibula, distinct
and separate. They have five distinct and complete digits on each
foot, and no one of these digits is very much larger than the
rest. Moreover, in the least modified mammals, the total number
of the teeth is very generally forty-four, while in the horse the
usual number is forty, and, in the absence of the canines, it may
be reduced to thirty-six; the incisor teeth are devoid of the
fold seen in those of the horse; the grinders regularly diminish
in size from the middle of the series to its front end; while
their crowns are short, early attain their full length, and
exhibit simple ridges or tubercles, in place of the complex
foldings of the horse's grinders.

"Hence the general principles of the hypothesis of evolution
lead to the conclusion that the horse must have been derived from
some quadruped which possessed five complete digits on each foot;
which had the bones of the forearm and of the leg complete and
separate; and which possessed forty-four teeth, among which the
crown of the incisors and grinders had a simple structure; while
the latter gradually increased in size from before backwards, at
any rate in the anterior part of the series, and had short
crowns.

"And if the horse had been thus evolved, and the remains of the
different stages of its evolution have been preserved, they ought
to present us with a series of forms in which the number of the
digits becomes reduced; the bones of the forearm and leg
gradually take on the equine condition; and the form and
arrangement of the teeth successively approximate to those which
obtain in existing horses.

"Let us turn to the facts and