56 Eadweard Muyhridge on Animals in Motion. [March 13, 



lifting of one hind foot and the descent of the other, no matter what 

 the length of stride. 



Many able scientists have written on the theory of the gallop, 

 but I believe Marey was the first to demonstrate, that in executing this 

 movement, the horse left the ground with a fore foot and landed on a 

 hind foot. 



The Leap. 



There is little essential difference in general characteristics of 

 either of the several movements that have been described, but with 

 a number of experiments made with horses while leaping, no two 

 were found to agree in the manner of execution. The leap of the 

 same horse at the same rate of speed, with the same rider, over the 

 same hurdle, disclosed much variation in the rise, clearance, and 

 descent of the animal. Apart from this, the horses were not 

 thoroughly trained leapers, and the results are perhaps not repre- 

 sentative of those that would bo obtained from the action of a well- 

 trained hunting horse. A few motions were, however, invariable. 

 While the horse was raising his body to clear the hurdle, one hind 

 foot was always in advance of the other, and exercised its last 

 energy alone. 



On the descent, the concussion was always received by one fore 

 foot, supported by the other more or less rapidly, and sometimes as 

 much as 30 inches in advance of where the first one struck, followed 

 by the hind feet, also with intervals of time and distance between 

 their several falls. It is highly probable future experiments will 

 prove these observations to be invariable in leaping. 



It is highly probable that these photographic investigations, 

 which were executed with wet collodion plates with exposures 

 not exceeding in some instances the one five-thousandth part of 

 a second, will dispel many popular illusions as to gait, and that 

 future and more exhaustive experiments, with all the advantages of 

 recent chemical discoveries, will completely unveil to the artist all the 

 visible muscular action of men and animals during their most rapid 

 movements. 



The employment of automatic apparatus for the purpose of obtain- 

 ing a regulated succession of photographic exposures is too recent 

 for its value to be properly understood, or to be generally used for 

 scientific experiment ; at a future time, the pathologist, the anatomist, 

 and other explorers for hidden truths will find it indispensable for 

 their complex investigations. 



[E. M.] 



