LOCOMOTION IN MAN 177 



M. Engrand, wishing to work on these lines, made 

 the statuette represented in Fig. 119. The attitude is 

 very different to those usually presented in Art ; the 

 foot which touches the ground is well in advance of 

 the centre of gravity, so that the choice of such an 

 attitude perhaps creates a practical difficulty, inas- 

 much as the figure is in unstable equilibrium. In 

 order, however, to reconcile this with physiological 

 knowledge, an attitude should be chosen in which 

 the centre of gravity lies exactly over the point of 

 support. At this moment the elevated leg is never 

 behind the leg which supports the weight of the body, 

 but lies directly across it. This attitude is seen in all 

 human paces, in walking as well as in running, with 

 this difference, that in walking the legs are much less 

 flexed at the joints. 



Study of the most Characteristic Attitudes in a Move- 

 ment. — In representing a movement, for instance, one of 

 a man, an artist rightly attempts to reproduce a 

 phase which is visible to the eye. It is usually the 

 preliminary or the final phase which can be best 

 appreciated. AYhen a machine is in motion, there are 

 certain parts of it which are only visible when they 

 reach their dead points, that is to say, for the brief 

 moment when the direction of movement is changed. 

 And this is also the case with certain movements in 

 man. Some attitudes are maintained longer than 

 others. Now, chronophotography on fixed plates could 

 be used to determine these positions. They are 

 recognizable in the photograph as the ones which have 

 left the most intense impressions on the sensitized 

 plate — in fact, as those which have had the longest 

 exposure. Thus in Fig. 120, which represents a 

 fencer in the act of lunging, most of the impressions 

 are indistinct or confused, while two of them stand out 

 as well defined positions. The first of these is when the 



