GENERALITIES OF THE GAITS. 497 



painters and sculptors, among whom so few have abandoned the precedents in- 

 culcated by the classical routine. To this end, we owe tribute to Colonel Du- 

 housset for the persevering efforts with which he led the new school to a more 

 correct interpretation of animated nature. Little by little the cause of equine 

 realism will triumph over the conventional art, which censures with disdain the 

 innovators who assume the liberty of announcing its errors to the public. 1 



2d. Reproduction of the Rhythm of the Beats. One of the most 

 prominent of the phenomena in the gaits is the succession of the sounds which 

 are audible. This succession does not deceive the trained ear, and permits it not 

 only to judge of the variety of the gait which it hears, but also to recognize if this 

 progression is accomplished with its normal characters. 



With the purpose of demonstrating, in our course of lectures, the cadence 

 of each particular gait without having recourse to the living animal, which 

 might be, at times, not altogether free from danger to the hearers, we have con- 

 ceived the idea of constructing the following small apparatus : 



It is composed of a horizontal cylinder, turning upon its own axis in front of two pieces of 

 resounding board, placed the one upon the other in such a manner as to form a spring, as is seen 

 in the instrument called the signal, and employed by school-teachers to call their classes to silence. 

 Small paddles or float-boards are fixed in succession in a vertical series upon the circumference 

 of the cylinder, whose number and interval are calculated in such a manner that when passing 

 by the signal they produce sounds according to the rhythm desired. To obtain the beats of a 

 different gait, it suffices to slide the cylinder towards the right or the left, and fasten:it by means 

 of a cog on the surface of the axis of the crank. A new series of paddles can thus be passed over 

 the signal, and so on. 



With the aid of this instrument, the construction of which we have been 

 obliged to postpone for pecuniary reasons, we should have been able to reproduce 

 very distinctly the normal and the defective rhythms of the walk, the trot, the 

 ordinary gallop, the fast gallop, the amble, the running walk, racking, | etc. 



It would have been capable of rendering efficient service in the study of 

 this part of the exterior, for it is difficult to procure, on a given day, a horse 

 capable of executing all the gaits. It, besides, would have enabled us to study 

 the varieties of each gait and to make the ear distinguish the mode of transition 

 from the one to the other. Our instrument, in this relation, would have partaken 

 of some of the advantages of the model for notation of M. Marey, which we will 

 examine farther on. 



3d. Artificial Representation of the Trails. By differentiating with 

 care the imprints left upon the ground by the feet of a horse in motion, and 

 transcribing these imprints upon paper in the required scale, we easily succeed 

 in giving an exact idea of the manner of their succession. 



But, in order to avoid the encumbrance resulting from the accumulation of 

 a large number of plates, as well as the expense of their preparation, we have 

 invented a species of vertical, portable table (Fig. 189), with the aid of which 

 any trail whatsoever can be represented immediately by means of small shoes, 

 which it suffices to hang at proper intervals. By changing the respective posi- 

 tions of the shoes, it also becomes easy to show the diverse transitions presented 

 by the trails of such or such a normal or defective gait. 



The apparatus is composed of a black-board about 2.50 m. in height, resting upon a pedestal 

 provided with three drawers, A, , C. In the left, A, are six nickel-plated shoes, three fore and 

 three hind ; in the right, C, are six similar shoes, but for the opposite side. The middle is 



i For more details see E. Duhousset, Le cheval, chap, i., ix., and x. 

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