4 
ANIMALS 
glass ; it the disc was to include more than one subject, 
the phases thereof were arranged in the same manner, 
and a transparent positive made of them collectively. The 
glass support of the resulting positive was subsequently 
cut into the form of a circle, and a hole bored through 
the centre, for the purpose of attaching it to the inner 
shaft of the apparatus. 
Some of the discs illustrated eight or ten distinct 
seriates of 17, 18, 19, 20, or 21 phases each, arranged, 
with due regard to perspective effect, on different lines, 
and included perhaps 200 figures of animals, which suc¬ 
cessively appeared, the size of life, on the screen as if 
trotting, cantering, galloping, and so forth, in various 
directions, and at different rates of speed; and of men 
performing acts of non-progressive movement, such as 
bowing, or waving their arms. These apparent move¬ 
ments could be continued for a period limited only by 
the patience of the spectators. Much time and care were 
required in the preparation of the discs, each figure 
having to be photographed three times, independently, 
before being photographed collectively. 
For many of the discs it was found advisable to fill 
up the outlines with opaque paint, as a more convenient 
and satisfactory method of obtaining greater brilliancy 
and stronger contrasts on the screen than was possible 
with chemical manipulation only. In the “retouching” 
great care was invariably taken to preserve the photo¬ 
graphic outline intact. 
To this instrument the author gave the name of 
Zoopraxiscope ; it is the first apparatus ever used, or 
MOTION. 
constructed, for synthetically demonstrating movements 
analytically photographed from life, and in its resulting 
effects is the prototype of all the various instruments 
which, under a variety of names, are used for a similar 
purpose at the present day. 
In an article—“ Photographs of a Galloping Horse ” 
—published in the Gentleman s Magazine , December, 
1881, Proctor, the astronomer, writes of having seen the 
zoopraxiscope in operation “ about two years ” before 
that date. This occurred at a lecture by the author on 
Animal Movements, given to the San Francisco Art 
Association. 
The first demonstration given in Europe with the 
zoopraxiscope was at the laboratory of Dr. E. J. Marey, 
in the presence of a large number of scientists from 
various parts of the world, then attending the Electrical 
Congress at Paris. A detailed criticism thereof appeared 
in Le Globe , and other Parisian journals, September 27, 
1881. The same apparatus was used at a lecture given 
by the author at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, 
the Prince of Wales presiding on the occasion; a long 
description (written by G. A. Sala) of the realistic effects 
of the synthetic projections then made, appeared in the 
Illustrated London News , March 18, 1882. 
It may here be parenthetically remarked that on the 
27th of February, 1888, the author, having contemplated 
some improvements of the zoopraxiscope, consulted with 
Mr. Thomas A. Edison as to the practicability of using 
that instrument in association with the phonograph, so as 
to combine, and reproduce simultaneously, in the presence 
