Descriptive Zoopraxography Part 1

Descriptive Zoopraxography.

by Eadweard Muybridge.

PREFACE.

In the summer of 1892 while the Author was in California, preparing for a Lecturing tour through Australia and India, he received an invitation from the Fine Arts Commission of the World's Columbian Exposition to give a series of Lectures on ZOOPRAXOGRAPHY in a.s.sociation with the Exposition now being held in Chicago.

As these Lectures under the more familiar t.i.tle of "The Science of Animal Locomotion in Its Relation to Design in Art" had already been given at nearly all the princ.i.p.al Inst.i.tutions of Art, Science and Education in Europe and in the United States, (see appendix A) the Author was induced to believe that they might be repeated in a popular manner at the Exposition, with some appreciation of the importance of the facts which his investigation has revealed, not merely by the student of Nature or of Art, but by that large and important cla.s.s of students, known as the general public.

Under this impression he delayed his far Occidental expedition and returned to Chicago to find a commodious theater erected for this special purpose on the grounds of the Exposition, to which the name of Zoopraxographical Hall had been given; the Science of Zoopraxography having had its origin in the Author's first experiments in 1872. It is not intended in this monograph to give more than a synopsis of the usual course of Lectures on the subject, nor to reproduce any of the pictured or sculptured representations which are necessary for its proper elucidation, but merely to describe the common methods of limb action adopted by quadrupeds--especially by the horse--in their various acts of progressive motion, and to ill.u.s.trate the most important phases of these movements by tracings from the original photogravures of the Author's work.

In the presentation of a Lecture on Zoopraxography the course usually adopted is to project, much larger than the size of life upon a screen, a series of the most important phases of some act of animal motion--the stride of a horse, while galloping for example--which are a.n.a.lytically described. These successive phases are then combined in the Zoopraxiscope, which is set in motion, and a reproduction of the original movements of life is distinctly visible to the audience.

With this apparatus, horse-races are reproduced with such fidelity that the individual characteristics of the motion of every animal can readily be seen; flocks of birds fly across the screen with every movement of their wings clearly perceptible; two gladiators contend for victory with an energy which would cause the arena to resound with wild applause, athletes turn somersaults, and other actions by men, women and children, horses, dogs, cats and wild animals, such as running, dancing, jumping, trotting and kicking, are ill.u.s.trated in the same manner. By this method of a.n.a.lysis and synthesis the eye is taught how to observe and to distinguish the differences between a true and a false impression of animal movements. The Zoopraxiscopical exhibition is followed by illuminated copies of paintings and sculptures, demonstrating how the movement has been interpreted by the Artists of all ages; from the primitive engravers of the cave dwelling period, to the most eminent painters and sculptors of the present day.

INTRODUCTION.

In the year 1872, while the Author was engaged in his official duties as Photographer of the United States Government for the Pacific coast, there arose in the city of San Francisco one of those controversies upon Animal Locomotion, which has engaged the attention of mankind from the dawn of symbolical design, to the present era of reformation in the artistic expression of animal movements.

The subject of this particular dispute was the possibility of a horse having all of his feet free of contact with the ground at the same instant, while trotting, even at a high rate of speed, and the disputants were Mr.

Frederick MacCrellish and the Hon. Leland Stanford.

The attention of the Author was directed to this controversy and he immediately sought the means for its settlement.

At this time the rapid dry plate had not yet been evolved from the laboratory of the chemist, and the problem before him was to develop a sufficiently intense and contrasted image upon a wet collodion plate, after an exposure of so brief a duration that a horse's foot moving with a velocity of more than a hundred lineal feet in a second of time, should be photographed practically "sharp."

A few days' experimenting and about a dozen negatives, with a celebrated fast trotter--"Occident"--as a model, while trotting at the rate of a mile in two minutes and sixteen seconds, laterally in front of the camera, decided the argument for once and for all time in favor of those disputants who held the opinion that a horse while trotting was for a portion of his stride entirely free from contact with the ground. With a knowledge of the fact that some horses while trotting will make a stride of twenty feet or more in length, it is difficult to understand why there should ever have been any difference of opinion on the subject.

These first experiments of Zoopraxography were made at Sacramento, California, in May, 1872. A few impressions were printed from the selected negative for private distribution, and were commented upon by the "Alta California," a newspaper published in San Francisco.

Thus far the photographs had been made with a single camera, requiring a separate trotting for each exposure. The horse being of a dark color and the background white, the pictures were little better than silhouettes, and it was difficult to distinguish, except by inference, the right feet from the left.

Several phases of as many different movements had been photographed, which the Author endeavored with little success to arrange in consecutive order for the construction of a complete stride.

It then occurred to him that if a number of cameras were placed in a line, and exposures effected successively in each, with regulated intervals of time or of distance, an a.n.a.lysis of one single step or stride could be obtained which would be of value both to the Scientist and the Artist.

The practical application of this system of photographing required considerable time for its development, and much experimenting with chemicals and apparatus.

It being desirable that the horses used as models should be representatives of their various breeds, and the Author not being the owner of any that could be fairly cla.s.sed as such, obtained the cooperation of Mr. Stanford, who owned a fine stud of horses at his farm at Palo Alto, and there continued his labors.

The apparatus used at this stage of the investigation was essentially the same as that subsequently constructed for the University of Pennsylvania, the arrangement of which will be described further on.

Some of the results of these early experiments which ill.u.s.trated successive phases of the action of horses while walking, trotting, galloping, &c., were published in 1878, with the t.i.tle of "The Horse in Motion." Copies of these photographs were deposited the same year in the Library of Congress at Washington, and some of them found their way to Berlin, London, Paris, Vienna, &c., where they were criticized by the journals of the day.

In 1882 the Author visited Europe and at a reception given him by Monsieur Meissonier was invited by that great painter to exhibit the results of his labors to his brother Artists who had a.s.sembled in his studios for that purpose. M. Meissonier was the first among Artists to acknowledge the value to Art design of the Author's researches; and upon this occasion, alluding to a full knowledge of the details of a subject being necessary for its truthful and satisfactory translation by the Artist, he declared how much his own impression of a horse's motion had been changed after a careful study of its consecutive phases.

It is scarcely necessary to point out, in confirmation of M. Meissonier's a.s.sertions, the modifications in the expression of animal movements now progressing in the works of the Painter and the Sculptor, or to the fact of their being the result of studious attention to the science of Zoopraxography.

In the same year, during a lecture on "The Science of Animal Locomotion in Its Relation to Design in Art," given at the Royal Inst.i.tution (see _Proceedings_ of the Royal Inst.i.tution of Great Britain, March 13, 1882), the author exhibited the results of his experiments at Palo Alto, when he, with the Zoopraxiscope and an oxy-hydrogen lantern, projected on the wall a synthesis of many of the actions he had photographed.

It may not be considered irrelevant if he repeats what he on that occasion said in his a.n.a.lysis of the quadrupedal walk:--

"So far as the camera has revealed, these successive foot fallings are invariable, and _are probably common to all quadrupeds_....

"It is also probable that these photographic investigations--which were executed with wet collodion plates, with exposures not exceeding in some instances the one five-thousandth part of a second--will dispel many popular illusions as to the gaits of a horse, and future and more exhaustive experiments, with the advantages of recent chemical discoveries, will completely unveil all the visible muscular action of men and animals even during their most rapid movements....

"The employment of automatic apparatus for the purpose of obtaining a regulated succession of photographic exposures is too recent for it to be generally used for scientific experiment or for its advantages to be properly appreciated. At some future time the philosopher will find it indispensable for many of his investigations."

The great interest manifested in the results of his preliminary labors convinced the Author that a comprehensive and systematic investigation with improved mechanical appliances, and newly-discovered chemical manipulations, would demonstrate many novel facts, not only interesting to the casual observer, but of indisputable value to the Artist and to the Scientist. This investigation and the subsequent publication in the elaborate manner determined upon, a.s.sumed such imposing proportions, and necessarily demanded so large an expenditure, that all publishers, not unnaturally, shrank from entering the unexplored field.

In this emergency, through the influence of its Provost, Dr. William Pepper, the University of Pennsylvania with an enlightened exercise of its functions as a contributor to human knowledge, instructed the Author to make, under its auspices, a comprehensive investigation of "Animal Locomotion" in the broadest significance of the words, (see appendix B) and some of the Trustees and friends of the University const.i.tuted themselves a committee for the purpose of promoting the execution of the work. These gentlemen were Dr. William Pepper, Chas. C. Harrison, J. B. Lippincott, Edw. H. Coates, Samuel d.i.c.kson and Thomas Hockley.

The Author acknowledges his obligations to these gentlemen for the interest they took in his labors; for without their generous a.s.sistance the work would probably never have been completed; the total amount expended--nearly forty thousand dollars--being entirely beyond his own resources. To Drs. F.

X. Derc.u.m, Geo. F. Barker and Horace Jayne, of the University, the Author is also indebted for much valuable a.s.sistance.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Diagram of the Studio at The University of Pennsylvania, and Arrangement of the Apparatus for Investigating Animal Locomotion.]

STUDIO, APPARATUS, AND METHOD OF WORKING.

For a proper appreciation of the care taken in the Investigation of Animal Locomotion at the University of Pennsylvania to ensure accurate record of the consecutive phases of the various movements, attention to the system adopted is necessary.

In the diagram, B is the _Lateral_ background; consisting of a shed 37 metres or about 120 feet, long, the front of which is open, and divided by vertical and horizontal threads into s.p.a.ces 5 centimetres, or about 2 inches, square, and by broader threads into larger s.p.a.ces 50 centimetres, or about 19 inches, square.

At C and C, 37 metres, or about 120 feet, apart are "_fixed_" backgrounds, with vertical threads 5 centimetres, or about two inches, from their centres, with broader threads 30 centimetres, or about 12 inches, from their centres.

For some investigations, readily distinguishable in the plates, "_portable_" backgrounds are used, consisting of frames 3 metres wide by 4 metres high,--about 10 feet by 13 feet 4 inches,--over some of which black cloth and over others white cloth is stretched, all being divided by vertical and horizontal lines into square s.p.a.ces of the same description as those of the lateral background.

These portable backgrounds are used when photographing birds and horses, and also wild animals when possible to do so.

L. A lateral battery of 24 automatic electro-photographic cameras, arranged parallel with the line of progressive motion, and usually placed therefrom about 15 metres or 49 feet.

Slow movements are usually photographed with lenses of 3 inches diameter and 15 inches equivalent focus; the centres of the lenses being 15 centimetres, or about 6 inches, apart.

Rapid movements are usually photographed with a _portable_ battery of cameras and smaller lenses.

The centre, between lenses 6 and 7, is opposite the centre of the track T.

For ill.u.s.trations comprising both "Laterals" and "Foreshortenings," cameras 1 to 12 only are used.

When "Laterals" alone are required, cameras 13 to 24 are connected with the system and used in their regular sequence.

R. A portable battery of 12 automatic electro-photographic cameras, the lenses of which are 1 inches diameter and 5 inches equivalent focus; the lenses are arranged 7 centimetres, or about 3 inches, from their centres.

When the battery is used vertically, lens 6 is usually on the same horizontal plane as the lenses of the lateral battery.

In the diagram this battery is arranged _vertically_ for a series of "Rear Foreshortenings," the points of view being at an angle of 90 degrees from the lateral battery.