Frostburg Mining Journal

SURVIVALS OF THE PREVIOUS
Philadelphia Record.

The two little splints in the horse's foot could never be accounted for on the principle that every part of an animal is now as it was from the beginning, and has its uses. They are perfectly useless, but they are the last remains of toes that were very useful to the ancestors of the horse. The world is full of such useless organs, each replete with historical interest. The muscle that moves the ear in a quadruped is present in man; but, as a rule, he cannot use it, and it would be useless to him if he could. Of what use are the two buttons on the back of a coat? None; but in the days when it was the mark of a gentleman to carry a sword they served to secure the sword-belt.

The articles man makes present on every hand these survivals from previous fashions. Sham laces on boots, buttons down fronts that do not open, buckles on bands that are fixed, neck wear in the form of ties but secured by other methods, are cases in point. Nature works in the same way that man does: or, rather, since man is part of nature he works by nature's methods. Changes are gradual; one of a series of bones, muscles, teeth, etc., that is used more than the others increases in bulk, while its neighbors diminish and perhaps finally disappear. If an animal acquires added powers in one direction because of circumstances that press it in that direction, it loses it in another. It is so with mind also. Do we not know that after long application to one class of subjects—probably the most useful to us—we lose much of what we previously knew?