The Muybridge Photographs.¹

Abstract

MR. MUYBRIDGE is of English birth, a citizen of the Great Republic, and a professional photographer. Long before he applied his knowledge and skill to the subject of instantaneous photography of moving animals and human beings, he had obtained recognition by his work in producing valuable views of Californian scenery, of Panama and the West Indies. In 1872 he made the first lateral photograph of a horse trotting at full speed, for the purpose of settling a controversy among horsemen as to “whether all the feet of a horse while trotting were entirely clear of the ground” at at any one instant of time. It was not until 1877, however, that he conceived the idea that animal locomotion, which was then attracting considerable attention through the experiments of Prof. Marey, of the Collège de France, might be investigated by means of instantaneous photography, with results of value both to the artist and to the naturalist.