1 i Professor Wiliiafu Stirling on 



a rate of only loo per second they had reduced the motion 

 exactly in that proportion. He was going to show them films 

 made in Paris, and there they would see a man walking. They 

 would recognise the " leaden " foot of a man, and perhaps a 

 woman, too — (laughter) — and in the next case they would see a 

 man jumping, and they would be able to analyse every phase of 

 the movement of that jump. In order that they might be hi'ought 

 to something as nearly celestial and angelic as possible — if they 

 could have it on this side of Hades or Styx — he proposed to show 

 them a marvellous film of a pigeon, where they would see the motion 

 slowed down twenty times. They would be able to analyse this, 

 and in contrast to it they would see the movement of a dragon fly 

 taken at the rate of 2,000 impressions per second. Having alluded 

 to photographic experiments, which were the precursors of the cine- 

 matograph, a film was shown illustrating the movements of the 

 amoeba, which, the lecturer said, was very low in the scale, and 

 protoplasmic in its nature. The gradual change in shape and 

 form of the amoeba was described, so that the audience could see 

 what could be done by exceedingly high magnifying power. A 

 starfish which had been placed on its back was seen in successive 

 movements, until the animal ultimately righted itself and got its 

 back up. A snail progressed by what was known as its foot, and 

 crawled along by a series of undulations, while a portion of one of 

 the films contrasted the sluggish movements of the snail with the 

 quick action of the dragon fly. The process of human beings 

 walking, running, and jumping was illustrated in an interesting 

 and amusing manner by the slowing down of the pictures 

 actually taken of the various movements, while the beautiful and 

 graceful motion of a pigeon flying evoked the hearty applause of 

 the audience. He emphasised the fact that the pictures were not 

 faked in any sense. They were made expressly for the study of 

 movement as expressed in the flight of the pigeon or any other 

 animal. The pictures were taken in briliant sunshine in the open 

 air, and not in a laboratory, where there were all sorts of electric 



