Animal Locomotion; or, walking, swimming, and flying: With a dissertation on aëronautics — John Shaqi
Animal Locomotion; or, walking, swimming, and flying: With a dissertation on aëronauticsPettigrew, James Bell
Science
Animal Locomotion; or, walking, swimming, and flying: With a dissertation on aëronautics
Pettigrew, James Bell
Aeronautics; Animal locomotion
This twisting begets the figure-of-8 movements observed in walking,
swimming, and flying. (Compare figs. 6, 7, and 26 _x_, pp. 28 and
55; figs. 18 and 19, pp. 37 and 39; figs. 32 and 50, pp. 68 and 97;
figs. 71 and 73, p. 144; and fig. 81, p. 157.)
_Locomotion of the Horse._--As the limits of the present volume
forbid my entering upon a consideration of the movements of all the
animals with terrestrial habits, I will describe briefly, and by
way of illustration, those of the horse, ostrich, and man. In the
horse, as in all quadrupeds endowed with great speed, the bones of
the extremities are inclined obliquely towards each other to form
angles; the angles diminishing as the speed increases. Thus the angles
formed by the bones of the extremities with each other and with the
scapulæ and iliac bones, are less in the horse than in the elephant.
For the same reason they are less in the deer than in the horse. In
the elephant, where no great speed is required, the limbs are nearly
straight, this being the best arrangement for supporting superincumbent
weight. The angles formed by the different bones of the wing of the
bird are less than in the fleetest quadruped, the movements of wings
being more rapid than those of the extremities of quadrupeds and
bipeds. These are so many mechanical adaptations to neutralize shock,
to increase elasticity, and secure velocity. The paces of the horse
are conveniently divided into the walk, the trot, the amble, and the
gallop. If the horse begins his walk by raising his near fore foot,
the order in which the feet are lifted is as follows:--first the left
fore foot, then the right or diagonal hind foot, then the right fore
foot, and lastly the left or diagonal hind foot. There is therefore
a twisting of the body and spiral overlapping of the extremities of
the horse in the act of walking, in all respects analogous to what
occurs in other quadrupeds[25] and in bipeds (figs. 18 and 19, pp. 37
and 39). In the slowest walk Mr. Gamgee observes “that three feet are
in constant action on the ground, whereas in the free walk in which
the hind foot passes the position from which the parallel fore foot
moves, there is a fraction of time when only two feet are upon the
ground, but the interval is too short for the eye to measure it. The
proportion of time, therefore, during which the feet act upon the
ground, to that occupied in their removal to new positions, is as
three to one in the slow, and a fraction less in the fast walk. In the
fast gallop these proportions are as five to three. In all the paces
the power of the horse is being exerted mainly upon a fore and hind
limb, with _the feet implanted in diagonal positions_. There is also a
constant parallel line of positions kept up by a fore and hind foot,
_alternating sides_ in each successive move. These relative positions
are renewed and maintained. Thus each fore limb assumes, as it alights,
the advanced position parallel with the hind, just released and moving;
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