GENERALITIES OF THE GAITS. 



491 



The systems of notation are not very numerous, nor are they equally satis- 

 factory. Let us rapidly pass them in review. 



1st. Method of Lecoq. We will do no more than place 

 it on record here, for it does not merit to be preserved. 



Upon two series of vertical columns (Fig. 184) the contacts 

 are indicated by black ovals and the elevations by blank ovals. 

 Each series corresponds to a lateral biped; the contact of the 

 anterior member is noted above, that of the posterior below. 

 The number of columns in each series is equal to that of the 

 times of the gait necessary to complete one step. Thus there 

 must be four in the walk (of which the figure reproduces the 

 notation), two only in the trot, etc., because the times in these 

 gaits are of different numbers. 



But as all these columns are of the same width, that is to 

 say, of the same value in relation to the duration of the phe- 

 nomena which they are destined to indicate, the method is in- 

 applicable to the gaits whose times are of unequal lengths. The 

 method, in such cases, is inadequate, and necessitates the addi- 

 tion of a number of columns or a width proportional to the 

 duration which they represent. This complicates much the 

 reading and the simplicity of the notation. 



2d. Hodochronometric Scale of Vincent 

 and Goiffon. 1 Two former professors at the Alfort 

 Veterinary School, Vincent and Goiffon, have con- 

 ceived the ingenious idea of applying the musical 

 notation to the schematic representation of the gaits 

 of the horse. 



They 'have invented for this purpose a scale called 

 the hodochronometric, 12 which is nothing more than a 

 stave of four horizontal lines, AD, PG, A G, PD, sim- 

 ilar to those which carry the notes in music, and intersected at equal distances 

 by vertical lines, /, //, ///, IV, which mark the time like, we might say, so many 

 bars in music. Each time or bar is again subdivided into three spaces, making 

 altogether twelve spaces for the whole length of the stave. 



This measure corresponds to a complete step. The ordinary step, for example, 

 is executed by the horse in four bars, whose beginning is indicated by the beats 

 of the feet ; the latter are shown by means of four notes, which are : AD, the 

 anterior right member ; PG, the posterior left ; A G, the anterior left ; and PD, 

 the posterior right. 



Each one of these notes will be written on the corresponding line of the 

 stave in the order in which it will be given out, it being understood that the 

 phases of contact will be represented by continuous lines, and the phases of eleva- 

 tion or projection of the member by dotted lines. The length of these lines will 

 be equivalent to the time during which each foot keeps up its note (rests upon the 

 ground), or, on the contrary, does not keep it (is maintained in the air). 



Let us now interpret some of the points of the notation of the walk, as repro- 

 duced in Fig. 185 : 



FIG. 184. 



1 Vincent et Goiffon, MSmoire artificielle des principes relatifs a la fidele representation 

 des animaux. In-folio, Paris, 1779, t. i. p. 87. 



2 From Ofio?, path; Xp6>os, time; and Mtrpov, measure. This word is improperly applied, 

 for the scale in question does not measure the path described by the members. Moreover, it 

 should be written hodochronometric and not odochronometric, as Vincent and Goiffon have stated. 



