NATURE 



[June 29, 1882 



By taking advantage also of the bright planets passing 

 the meridian in the day time good observations can be 

 obtained for latitude and longitude at the same time (a 

 great point), whilst the sun is above the horizon, as well 

 as at sunrise and sunset, when by Sumner's method three 

 or more stars can be combined to give the position. We 

 admit that constant practice is required to take these 

 observations accurately, but they can be obtained, and as 

 it is very useful to be able to make certain of a ship's 

 position, as often as possible, all officers should practise 

 themselves in observing both Venus and Jupiter with the 

 sun above the horizon. 



Whilst however not agreeing with Capt. Wharton on 

 some few points, we think his woik will be found most 

 useful, not only for young officers taking up surveying 

 but also as a book of reference for older surveyors, and 

 personally feel much obliged to him for combining in one 

 volume so many useful remarks and tables which have 

 hitherto been only in MSS. or pamphlets. 



THE HORSE IN MOTION 

 The Horse in Motion as shown by Instantaneous Photo- 

 graphy; with a Study on Animal Mechanics, founded 

 on Anatomy and the Revelations of the Camera, in 

 which is demonstrated the Theory of Quadrupedal 

 Locomotion. By J. D. B. Stillman, M.A./m.D. Exe- 

 cuted and Published under the Auspices of Leland 

 Stanford. (London : Trubner and Co., 1882.) 



TH E above is the somewhat long title of a large and 

 important work issuing from the well-known Cam- 

 bridge (U.S.) University Press. Long as is the title, the 

 name of the principal contributor to the volume is left 

 unrecorded there, though indeed even a cursory glance 

 over its contents shows how much indebted is the whole 

 question of the mode of motion in the horse to the 

 elaborate series of investigations of Mr. J. Muybridge. 



Leaving aside the anatomical and teleogistic arguments 

 of Dr. Stillman, as contained in some hundred pages of 

 letterpress, we cull from a postscript to the same the fol- 

 lowing interesting information, which we give as we find it 

 in the book. Some time in 1872, Mr. L. Stanford, of Palo 

 Alto Farm, in California, had his attention called to the 

 very controverted question as to the action of a trotting 

 horse, and conceiving the idea that the photographic 

 camera might be made available to illustrate the action, 

 he, according to the authority before us, consulted with 

 Mr. Muybridge and induced him to undertake some 

 experiments in instantaneous photography. Some ten 

 years ago, a photograph taken in the space of the one- 

 twelfth of a second was considered quite a success, and 

 it would seem that the experiments made then by Mr. 

 Muybridge were inconclusive. In 1877 Mr. Muybridge, 

 however, renewed his experiments. A few pictures were 

 taken of " Occident," a noted trotter belonging to Mr. 

 Stanford, while he was in motion, and one of these, re- 

 presenting the horse with all his feet clear of the ground 

 was enlarged, retouched, and distributed. This result 

 was so extraordinary and so successful, that it was 

 determined to try others on a more extended scale. It 

 was assumed that if one picture could be taken instan- 

 taneously, an indefinite number might also be taken, 

 and so the various positions assumed by the horse in a 

 single complete stride could be illustrated. 



Mr. Muybridge was authorised to procure the needed 

 apparatus, and a building suitable to the purpose was 

 erected on Mr. Stanford's farm. By 1S78 preparations 

 were complete, and every resource of the photographic 

 art had been provided. Twelve cameras were placed in 

 the building at intervals of twenty-one inches, with double 

 shutters to each, and these shutters were so arranged that 

 the whole series of exposures were made in the time 

 occupied by a single complete stride of a horse. The 

 very ingenious mechanism invented by Mr. Muybridge it 

 would be impossible to describe without the assistance of 

 illustrations, but it may be stated that he was thereby 

 enabled to double the number of his cameras, and the 

 whole of the large series of twenty-four figures each, 

 which are used to illustrate this volume, were taken by 

 him. They were very accurately taken, and the heliotypes 

 are perfect transcripts of the original photographs. 



Thanks to the zeal and energy of Mr. Muybridge, and 

 the liberality of Mr. Stanford, we are now enabled to see 

 for ourselves the various attitudes assumed by a horse in 

 running, trotting, leaping, and the result is most strange. 

 It would seem as if most civilised nations had failed to 

 recognise the true action of this noble quadruped, as if all 

 had settled down into being content with a conventional 

 idea of how a horse in motion ought to be represented. 

 Now our artists will have no excuse ; they can directly 

 interrogate nature, as represented to them in these silhou- 

 ettes, no doubt at first they may follow her with fear, for 

 some of the positions look strange, not to say grotesque, 

 but soon both artist and the public will have learnt to 

 recognise the truth : and once this is so, the old style will 

 be in its turn regarded as grotesque, and as representing 

 but an early stage in the development of art. 



Mr. Muybridge's photographs will be of immense im- 

 portance to all art students, and they should be atten- 

 tively studied by all admirers of the horse. A few other 

 photographs are given in this volume of the various 

 stages of motion in the cow, dog, deer, and boar. 



OUR BOOK SHELF 

 Unexplored Bdluchistdn : a Survey of a Route through 



Mekrdn, Bashkurd, Persia, Turkistan, and Turkey. 



By Ernest A. Floyer. (London : Griffith and Farran, 



1882.) 

 An entertaining book of travel, but by no means an explora- 

 tion of" Unexplored Baluchistan," as is indeed sufficiently 

 evident from the sub-title. Nevertheless, Mr. Floyer has 

 investigated and partly solved some interesting geogra- 

 phical questions in the little-known province of Bashkurd 

 (Bashakard), on the Perso-Mekran frontier, which he 

 visited on two separate occasions during the years 1876-7. 

 This region, which had been merely skirted by Goldsmid, 

 Lovett, Ewen Smith, St. John, and others connected with 

 the I'erso-Bahich Boundary Commission of 1872, and 

 with the development of telegraphy in Persia and Mekran 

 in 1873-4, was ascertained to comprise six separate terri- 

 tories or districts — • Gavr and Payment in the east, 

 Jagda in the west, Marz and Pizgh north and south 

 respectively, and Daroserd with the capital, Angurhan, in 

 the centre. The town, which appears to be a place of 

 great natural strength, was found to lie in 26 40' N. lat., 

 57 : 55' E. long., or about thirty miles from the position 

 assigned to it on Major St. John's map. The Aphen-i- 

 Band range, between Daroserd and Pizgh, was crossed 

 near its western extremity, and ascertained to run east 

 and west under 26 30' N., at a mean elevation of 3600 



