"The employment of automatic apparatus for the purpose of obtaining a regulated succession of photographic exposures is too recent for its value to be properly understood, or to be generally used for scientific experiment. At some future time the explorer for hidden truths will find it indispensable for his investigations."
In 1883, 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.
A Diagram of the Studio
and the arrangement of the apparatus used for this purpose is here given.
TT represents the track along which the model M was caused to move. B is the background, divided into spaces of 5 centimetres square for the purpose of measurement.
L, a horizontal battery of electro-photographic cameras, parallel to the line of motion (at a distance of 15 metres or about 48 feet therefrom), for a series of 12 lateral exposures.
R, a vertical battery of electro-photographic cameras, at right angles to the lateral battery, for a series of 12 rear foreshortenings.