Anatomy, Artistic; Animals in art; Zoological illustration
[70] We cannot too strongly recommend the reading of the excellent
works which Professor Marey has published, and which have for
their object the study of movements, as well as the exhibition of
the procedures which he has employed. E. J. Marey, 'La Machine
Animale,' Paris, 1873; 'La Méthode graphique dans les Sciences
expérimentales,' Paris, 1884; 'Le Vol des Oiseaux,' Paris, 1890;
'Le Mouvement,' Paris, 1894.
It is necessary to understand first of all, in this connection, that
which relates to a man's walking pace.
The method of Professor Marey rests on the following principle: Suppose
two rubber globes connected with one another by a tube. If we compress
one of these globes, the air which it contains will be driven into the
other, and will afterwards return when the pressure has ceased. Nothing
more simple, evidently; but it is necessary to describe it in detail in
order the better to comprehend that which follows: The walker who is the
subject of experiment is furnished with special shoes (Fig. 115), having
thick indiarubber soles, hollowed in the interior, so that the whole
thus constituted forms a sort of hollow cushion which is compressed
under the influence of the pressure of the foot on the ground. A tube
which is attached to a registering apparatus, which the person who is
walking carries in his hand, communicates with this cavity (Fig. 116).
This apparatus is formed of a metal drum, which is closed at its upper
part by a flexible membrane. Each time that one of the man's feet
presses on the ground, the air contained in the cavity of the sole of
the shoe is driven into the drum, which we have just mentioned, and the
flexible membrane of this drum is elevated. To this membrane is attached
a vertical rod which supports a horizontal style.
[Illustration: FIG. 115.--EXPERIMENTAL SHOES, INTENDED TO RECORD THE
PRESSURE OF THE FOOT ON THE GROUND.]
When the membrane, as we have just seen, is elevated, the style is
lifted, and then descends when the pressure of the foot ceases. It
traces these displacements on a leaf of paper, the surface of which is
covered with a thin layer of lamp-black, which it removes by its
contact; different parts of this surface are successively presented to
it, the paper being rolled round a cylinder which is turned on its axis
by means of a clockwork movement. It is necessary to add that the
inscription is made, in the study of the walk of man, by means of two
styles, each corresponding to one of the feet.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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