142 



ANIMAL MECHANISM. 



succeed each other, in each of the persons supposed to be 

 walking. 



Of the amble. — Let us take the simplest case, in which the 

 two persons walking steadily go through the same movements 

 at the same time. If we represent, by the notation before 

 employed, the movements of these two men, placing at the top 

 the notation which belongs to the foremost, and below it that 

 of the hindmost, we shall have the following figure : — 



Fjg. 38.— Notation of a horse's amble. 



The footfalls of the right and left foot being produced at 

 the same time by the person walking in front and by him who 

 follows, must be represented by similar signs placed exactly 

 over each other. Thus, in the paces of the horse, this 

 agreement between the movements of the fore and hind limbs 

 belongs to the amble. The notation (fig. 38) will jpe that of 

 a horse's amble ; the upper line referring to the movements 

 of the fore quarters of the animal, and the lower line to the 

 hind limbs. 



The standard definition is the following : The amble is a 

 kind of pace characterised by the alternate and exclusive 

 action of two lateral bipeds. Authors are entirely agreed on 

 this point. Let us add that in the amble the ear perceives 

 only two beats at each pace, the two limbs on the same side 

 striking the ground at the same instant. In the notation 

 these two sounds are marked by vertical lines joining the two 

 synchronous impacts. 



In the amble the pressure of the body on the ground is 

 said to be lateral, as the two limbs on one side only are in 

 contact with the ground at the same time. 



Of the walking pace. — According to the definition of the 

 greater number of authors, the walking pace consists in an 

 equal succession of impacts of the four feet, which strike the 

 ground in the following order : if the right foot be considered 

 as moving first, w^e shall have the following succession — right 

 fore-foot, left hind-foot, left fore foot, and then right hind-foot. 



