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As the most beautiful quadruped and the most useful animal to man, the
horse makes a good prototype.
Let BCDEF be the body and the legs of a horse in such a manner, that
the legs, in order to be good for racing, be as high as GE and HD. Draw
the line AI (the purple line) to represent the direction of the
vertebrae. The line AY (green line) is the first rib, and, as a result,
"A" (green circle) is the center of movement of the first vertebral in the
neck (all animals have 7). The neck and the head together must be long
enough so that the animal can eat, i.e. AY (green line) + YZ (blue
line). |
Plate III, Figure 1.
The Horse
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When the head is smaller in relation to the height of the animal, the
neck must be able to stretch all the more, as is the case in camels,
sheep, etc.
When the head lifts, the neck must curve either on the outside (the
outer brown line) or on the inside (the inner brown line) as in old
horses.
In order to have such a neck, the spine protuberances of the vertabras
in the back have to be able to lift a lot; and they do in the horse (in
AB). The length of the protuberances are less considerable in the other
animals; particularly less so in man, who carries his head in a straight
line.
The horse has a big muscle (the violet line) which is the reason horses
can kick (an unique characteristic of the species). The cow does not have
this muscle and is therefore characterized by a hollow in that same area
(blue patch).
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The outline of the horse is sketched again (in red) and the feet of the
horse has to shorten into those of the cow. |
Plate III, Figure 2.
The Cow
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From this result that the
neck does not have to be as long: only as AF (brown line) when raised and
as AY (green line) when grazing. The neck does not need to shorten
therefore, like in the horse, but raises in a diagonal direction that the
head remains always lower, because of its weight and its horns, than the
withers at point "B" (red circle), which for that reason is not as high as
in the horse.
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The outline of the horse (in red) and the line that passes through the
vertebras (purple) is traced again. |
Plate IV, Figure 3.
The Dog
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Because of the change in food,
change the horse stomach outline into the "green line." The neck can be of
different lengths because the dog eats while lying down or launches
without needing to graze the muzzle on the ground. Its paw, in order to
be lighter, have to be skinnier. The bone of the leg being longer, the
"brown line" becomes much shorter than in the horse. The tail must
serve in the movement of jumping.
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