Animal Locomotion; or, walking, swimming, and flying With a dissertation on aëronautics

In examining figures 21, 22, and 23, the reader will do well to remember that the _near_ fore and hind feet of a horse are the _left_ fore and hind feet; the _off_ fore and hind...

Before proceeding to a consideration of the graceful and, in some respects, mysterious evolutions of the denizens of the air, and the far-stretching pinions by which they are pr...

Mr. Henson designed his aërostat in 1843. “The chief feature of the invention was the very great expanse of its sustaining planes, which were larger in proportion to the weight...

In the swimming of the fish, the body is thrown into double or figure-of-8 curves, as in the walking of the biped. The twisting of the body, and the continuity of movement which...

When artificial wings constructed on the plan of natural ones, with stiff roots, tapering semi-rigid anterior margins, and thin yielding posterior margins, are allowed to drop f...

_The Wing at all times thoroughly under control._--The wing is moveable in all parts, and can be wielded intelligently even to its extremity; a circumstance which enables the in...

Fourth, Similarly and conversely, if the wing strikes the air perpendicularly from above, the posterior and flexible portion of the wing will yield and be forced in an upward di...

“It is generally through the intervention of the proper motions of the dorsum, which are very considerable during flight, that the wings or the elytra are moved equally and simu...

The catastrophe of drowning is usually referrible to nervous agitation, and to spasmodic and ill-directed efforts in the extremities. All swimmers have a vivid recollection of t...

_The Wing acts as an Elevator, Propeller, and Sustainer, both during extension and flexion._--The wing, as has been explained, is recovered or drawn off the wind principally by...

_How to apply Artificial Wings to the Air._--Borelli, Durckheim, Marey, and all the writers with whom I am acquainted, assert that the wing should be made to vibrate _vertically...

The locomotion of animals, as exemplified in walking, swimming, and flying, is a subject of permanent interest to all who seek to trace in the creature proofs of beneficence and...

When the tail strikes in the direction _a i_, the head of the fish is said to travel in the direction _c h_. When the tail strikes in the direction _g e_, the head is said to tr...

The same remarks apply to the movements of the extremities of the triton (fig. 45, p. 89) and crocodile, when swimming, and to the feebly developed corresponding members in the...

_The Bones of the Wing of the Bat--the spiral configuration of their articular surfaces._--The bones of the arm and hand are especially deserving of attention. The humerus (fig....

The loops made by the wing of the insect, owing to the more oblique stroke, are more horizontal than those made by the wing of the bat and bird. The principle is, however, in bo...

The leg in the human subject moves by three joints, viz., the hip, knee, and ankle joints. When standing in the erect position, the hip-joint only permits the limb to move forwa...

“The bones of vertebrated animals, especially those which are entirely terrestrial, are much more elastic, hard, and calculated by their chemical elements to bear the shocks and...

“It is easy, by aid of this table, to follow the order, always decreasing, of the surfaces, in proportion as the winged animal increases in size and weight. Thus, in comparing t...

It is a curious circumstance, that if portions be removed from the posterior margins of the wings of a buzzing insect, such as the wasp, bee, blue-bottle fly, etc., the note pro...

[117] Compare Marey’s description with that of Borelli, a translation of which I subjoin. “Let a bird be suspended in the air with its wings expanded, and first let the under su...

The same may be said of the general arrangement of the muscles in the trunk and tail of the Cetacea, the principal muscles in this case being distributed, not on the sides, but...

_The Wing acts as a true Kite both during the Down and Up Strokes._--If, as I have endeavoured to explain, the wing, even when elevated and depressed in a strictly vertical dire...

_The Artificial Wing propelled at various degrees of speed during the Down and Up Strokes._--The tendency which the artificial wave wing has to rise again when suddenly and vigo...

Produced by Thiers Halliwell, Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by T...