DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18825#0381
252 expression of THE figure. [lECT. x.
A person about to leap, bends his body to acquire
a spring, then quickly extends the junctures of the
thigh., knee, and feet: the body, by this extension,
describes an oblique line, inclining forward, and
rising upward ; the motion direeled forward, carry-
ing the body in that direction ; the motion intended
upward, elevating it: these conjoined, describe a
large arch, or semicircle, in which line a man is ob-
served to leap.
The utmost degree of contortion to which a man
in viewing his hind parts is able to attain, is, to look
perpendicularly down upon his heels : ■ and this is
not performed without great difficulty, since besides
a flexure of his neck, his legs are likewise to be bent,
and the shoulder over which the head declines to be
considerablv lowered.
A man who in retiring would tear any thing out
of the earth, raises the leg opposite to the arm
wherewith he acts, and bends that knee : this he
does, to balance himself on the leg which supports
his body, for without thus bending it he could not
act, neither could he retire without stretching it
out. Such are some of the laws of Motion.
But, to quit these violent motions, I wish to pre-
sent, in this Lecture, a few ideas on movements of
a more placid and graceful kind.
I had the honour, on a former occasion, to intro-
duce a few hints on the subject; of Beauty : to in-
vestigate the principles of Grace, which is the per-
fection of Beauty, I would request you to recollect,
that we considered Beauty as dependent on fitness,
variety, and symmetry : if the same principles be
supposed
A person about to leap, bends his body to acquire
a spring, then quickly extends the junctures of the
thigh., knee, and feet: the body, by this extension,
describes an oblique line, inclining forward, and
rising upward ; the motion direeled forward, carry-
ing the body in that direction ; the motion intended
upward, elevating it: these conjoined, describe a
large arch, or semicircle, in which line a man is ob-
served to leap.
The utmost degree of contortion to which a man
in viewing his hind parts is able to attain, is, to look
perpendicularly down upon his heels : ■ and this is
not performed without great difficulty, since besides
a flexure of his neck, his legs are likewise to be bent,
and the shoulder over which the head declines to be
considerablv lowered.
A man who in retiring would tear any thing out
of the earth, raises the leg opposite to the arm
wherewith he acts, and bends that knee : this he
does, to balance himself on the leg which supports
his body, for without thus bending it he could not
act, neither could he retire without stretching it
out. Such are some of the laws of Motion.
But, to quit these violent motions, I wish to pre-
sent, in this Lecture, a few ideas on movements of
a more placid and graceful kind.
I had the honour, on a former occasion, to intro-
duce a few hints on the subject; of Beauty : to in-
vestigate the principles of Grace, which is the per-
fection of Beauty, I would request you to recollect,
that we considered Beauty as dependent on fitness,
variety, and symmetry : if the same principles be
supposed