Page:A discourse upon the origin and foundation of the inequality among mankind (IA discourseuponori00rous).pdf/257

is uſeful to Quadrupeds, and that not one of them is found to want it; that the Situation of the Breaſts of Women, well adapted to Bipeds which hold their Children in their Arms, would be ſo inconvenient for Quadrupeds, that not one of them has theſe Parts placed in that Manner; that, our Legs and Thighs being ſo exceſſively long in proportion to the Hands and Arms that when walking on All-fours we are forced to crawl upon our Knees, the whole would have formed an ill-proportioned Animal, and very ill fitted for walking: That if ſuch an Animal laid his Foot as well as his Hand flat on the Earth, he would have in the Hinder-Leg a Joint leſs than other Animals, namely, that which unites the Canon with the Tibia, and that in ſtanding on the Tip of the Foot, as no doubt he muſt be obliged to do, the Tarſus, not to inſiſt on its being compoſed of ſo many Bones, muſt have been too large to anſwer the End of the Canon: And the Articulations with the Metatarſus and Tibia too near each other to afford the Human Leg, in that Situation, the Degree of Flexibility obſervable in the Legs of Quadrupeds. The Example of Children being drawn from an Age in which our