Descriptive Zoopraxography Part 4

_APPENDIX A._

SYLLABUS OF A COURSE OF TWO LECTURES

ON

ZOOPRAXOGRAPHY

OR

THE SCIENCE OF ANIMAL LOCOMOTION IN ITS RELATION TO DESIGN IN ART.

Origin of the Author's Investigations--Diagram of the Studio at the University of Pennsylvania where the Investigation was conducted--Batteries of Cameras, Electro-exposers, Contact-motor, Chronograph, and other apparatus used for photographing consecutive phases of animal movements--Method of obtaining successive exposures of moving objects synchronously from several different points of view--Normal Locomotion of Animals--Twelve consecutive phases of a single step of the Horse while walking; also of the Ox, Elk, Goat, Buffalo, and other cloven-footed animals; the Lion, Elephant, Camel, Dog, and other soft-footed animals; of the Sloth while suspended by its claws, and of the Child while crawling on the ground; of man walking erect--The Normal Method of Locomotion by all animals essentially the same--The Quadrupedal Walk as interpreted by Prehistoric Man, by the Egyptians, a.s.syrians, Phoenicians, Etruscans, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, and by eminent artists of mediaeval and of modern times--The Statue of Marcus Aurelius the great source of modern errors; Marcus Aurelius in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, New York, Boston, and many other cities--Albert Durer, Verrocchio, Meissonier, Paul Delaroche, Landseer, Rosa Bonheur, Elizabeth Thompson Butler, &c.--Other Quadrupedal movements, the Amble, Rack, Trot and Canter--Twelve phases in the Gallop of a Horse--Origin of the modern representation of the Gallop--Gallop as depicted by the Hitt.i.tes, North American Indians, Egyptians, a.s.syrians, Greeks, the mediaeval artists--The modern conventional gallop; evidences of its absurdity; acknowledgment by the Artist of the necessity of reformation--Leap of the Horse, Kick of the Mule, &c., all ill.u.s.trated by photographs the size of life, from nature, and comparisons made with the interpretation of the same movements by artists of pre-historic, ancient, mediaeval and modern times--Demonstration of the action of the primary feathers in the wing of a Bird while Flying, and a solution of the complex problem of Soaring.

AFTER THE VARIOUS METHODS OF LOCOMOTION HAVE BEEN DEMONSTRATED BY a.n.a.lYSIS, THEY WILL BE REPRESENTED SYNTHETICALLY BY THE ZOOPRAXISCOPE.

_Among the many Inst.i.tutions where Mr. Muybridge has had the honor of Lecturing on_

ZOOPRAXOGRAPHY

_are the following_:--

Royal Academy of Arts, London.

Royal Society of London.

Royal College of Surgeons, London.

Royal Inst.i.tution of Great Britain.

Royal Dublin Society.

Royal Geographical Society.

Royal Inst.i.tution, Hull.

British a.s.sociation for the Advancement of Science.

Linnean Society, Zoological Society.

Art and Science Schools, South Kensington Museum.

London Inst.i.tution, Glasgow Philosophical Society.

Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society.

Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical Society.

Town Hall, Birmingham; Nottingham Arts Society.

Manchester Athenaeum.

University of Oxford.

Eton College, Clifton College.

Wellington College, Yorks.h.i.+re College, Rugby School, Charterhouse.

Leeds Mechanics' Inst.i.tute.

Sheffield Literary and Philosophical Society.

Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society.

Warrington Literary and Philosophical Society.

Yorks.h.i.+re Philosophical Society, Bristol Naturalists' Society.

Bath a.s.sociated Scientific and Art Societies.

Ipswich Scientific Society, Photographic Society of Ireland.

Liverpool a.s.sociated Literary, Scientific and Art Societies.

St. George's Hall, Liverpool.

School of Military Engineering, Chatham.

The School of Fine Arts; Hall of the Hemicycle, Paris.

The Society of Artists, Berlin.

The Society of Artists, Vienna.

The Society of Artists, Munich.

The Urania Scientific Society, Berlin.

The Polytechnic High School, Vienna.

The Polytechnic High School, Munich.

The University of Turin.

The "Cercle de L'Union Artistique,"

The Studio of M. Meissonier in Paris, Etc., Etc., Etc.

_And at all the princ.i.p.al Inst.i.tutions of Art, Science, Education and Learning in the United States of America._

[Ill.u.s.tration: 1. ATHLETE, HORSE-BACK SOMERSAULT.]

ABBREVIATED CRITICISMS.

"On Monday last, in the theatre of the ROYAL INSt.i.tUTION, a select and representative audience a.s.sembled to witness a series of the most interesting demonstrations of Animal Locomotion given by Mr. Muybridge.

"The Prince and Princess of Wales, Princess Victoria, Louise, and Maud, and the Duke of Edinburgh honored the occasion by their presence; likewise did I note among the brilliant company Earl Stanhope, Sir Frederick Leighton, P.R.A.; Professors Huxley, Gladstone, and Tyndall; and last, not least, Lord Tennyson, poet laureate.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 2. ATHLETES BOXING.]

"Mr. Muybridge exhibited a large number of photographs of horses galloping, leaping, etc.... By the aid of an astonis.h.i.+ng apparatus called a ZOOPRAXISCOPE, which may be briefly described as a magic lantern run mad (with method in the madness), the animals walked, cantered, ambled, galloped, and leaped over hurdles in a perfectly natural and lifelike manner. I am afraid that, had Muybridge exhibited his ZOOPRAXISCOPE three hundred years ago, he would have been burned as a wizard.... After the horses came dogs, deer, and wild bulls. Finally man appeared (in instantaneous photography) on the scene, and ran, leaped, and turned back somersaults to admiration."--GEORGE AUGUSTUS SALA in _Ill.u.s.trated London News_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 3. ATHLETES RUNNING.]

"Both scientific and artistic circles in London are at present greatly interested in the triumphs of Mr. Eadweard Muybridge in photographing the successive phases of animal movements. Our leading biologists and artists have at once perceived and acknowledged the vast importance of the results of his work."--_The Times, London._

[Ill.u.s.tration: 5. ATHLETE, RUNNING HIGH JUMP.]

"The Archbishop of York occupied the chair.... His Grace congratulated the crowded and distinguished audience on the opportunity afforded them of hearing Mr. Muybridge, and said that to everybody who felt an interest in the phenomena of motion, the magnificent results of the investigation carried on by Mr. Muybridge and the University of Pennsylvania were wonderfully instructive."--_York Herald._

"His audiences have been drawn from the very first ranks of art, science, and fas.h.i.+on."--_British Journal of Photography._

[Ill.u.s.tration: 6. ATHLETE, STANDING LONG JUMP.]

"These demonstrations are marvellously complete, ... exceedingly abundant and rich in suggestion and instruction, and appeal to almost every cla.s.s or condition of humanity."--_Sat.u.r.day Review, London._

"Mr. Muybridge delighted his audience with his wonderful photographs."--_The Times, London._

"... Last night Mr. Muybridge gave his final lecture in Newcastle on 'The Science of Animal Locomotion,' with the whole of the wonderful ill.u.s.trations; the Art Gallery being again crowded to excess."--_Newcastle Chronicle._

[Ill.u.s.tration: 11. ATHLETES. BASE BALL; BATTING.]

"A photographic achievement which seemed to me at the time scarce credible, and which I was presently a.s.sured by one of our ablest English photographers was absolutely outside the bounds of possibility."--PROFESSOR R. A. PROCTOR in the _Gentleman's Magazine_.