“The Elephant hath joints, but none for courtesy,
His legs are legs for necessity, not for flexure.”
And so in Chapman’s drama (1605) of All Fools we read:—
“I hope you are no Elephant, you have joints.”
These ideas originated from the peculiar gait of the Elephant.
The shape of the Elephant is so familiar to every one that it is only necessary to remark that the ponderous body, clad in a thick and almost hairless skin, has the fore-quarters higher than the hinder parts, and that the thigh in the hind leg is long and straight when the animal is standing. The knee is visible below the body, and bends so as to bring the foot in the rear. On comparing an Elephant and a Carnivore, and their skeletons as well, the arrangement of the joints of the hind quarters will be noticed to be different. In fact, the bend of the Elephant’s knee gives the gait of the huge creature an appearance unlike that of any other animal. It stands on the ends of its five toes, each of which is terminated by comparatively small hoofs, and the heel-bone is a little distance from the ground. Beneath comes the wonderful cushion, composed of membranes, fat, nerves, and blood-vessels, besides muscles, which constitutes the sole of the foot. The fore-foot is larger than the hind one, and as the creature does not require to climb, or to lift its fore-limb very high, there is no collar-bone. In the young there is more hair on the body than might have been expected, and they have a set of milk teeth.
The brain is greatly convoluted on the surface, but the little brain, or cerebellum, is not covered by the brain proper.
TRUNK OR PROBOSCIS OF ELEPHANT.
A, Muscles and Tendons; B, Transverse Section.