see how far they fulfill these
requirements of the doctrine of evolution.

"In Europe abundant remains of horses are found in the
Quaternary and later Tertiary strata as far as the Pliocene
formation. But these horses, which are so common in the
cave-deposits and in the gravel of Europe, are in all essential
respects like existing horses, and that is true of all the horses
of the later part of the Pliocene epoch. But, in the deposits
which belong to the earlier Pliocene, and later Miocene epochs,
and which occur in Britain, in France, in Germany, in Greece, in
India, we find animals which are extremely like horses--which in
fact are so similar to horses, that you may follow descriptions
given in works upon the anatomy of the horse, upon the skeletons
of these animals--but which differ in some important particulars.
For example, the structure of their fore and hind limbs is
somewhat different. The bones, which, in the horse are
represented by two long splints, imperfect below, are as long as
the middle metacarpal and metatarsal bones; and, attached to the
extremity of each, is a digit with three joints of the same
general character as those of the middle digit, only very much
smaller. These small digits are so disposed that they could have
had but very little functional importance, and they must have
been rather of the nature of the dew-claws, such as are to be
found in many ruminant animals. The _Hipparion_, as the extinct
European three-toed horse is called, in fact presents a foot
similar to that of the American _Protohippus_ except that in
_Hipparion_ the smaller digits are situated further back, and are
of smaller proportional size than in the _Protohippus_.

"The ulna is slightly more distinct than in the horse; and the
whole length of it, as a very slender shaft, intimately united
with the radius, is completely traceable. The fibula appears to
be in the same condition as in the horse. The teeth of the
_Hipparion_ are essentially similar to those of the horse, but
the pattern of the grinders is in some respects a little more
complex, and there is a depression on the face of the skull in
front of the orbit, which is not seen in existing horses.

"In the earlier Miocene and perhaps in the Eocene deposits of
some parts of Europe,