Zoetrope

Zoetrope (Gr. zōē, 'life,' and tropos, 'a turning'), a scientific toy by which several pictures of objects or persons in various positions are combined into one visual impression, so as to give the appearance of movement or life. It consists of a hollow cylinder, closed at the lower end, supported on a vertical axis in the centre of that end. Round the interior of the cylinder, in its lower part, is a band of pictures of the same object, but varied in succession according to the varied steps of the movement intended to be shown. Round the upper part is a series of narrow slits, equal in number and opposite to the pictures. On revolving the cylinder rapidly and looking through these slits as they pass the eye, the figures of the picture appear as one moving figure. Each picture impresses the eye but for a moment, and is blended with the real picture by the continuance of the retinal sensation in the eye. Thus all become apparently successive positions of the same figure. The Kinetoscope and Cinematograph are developments. See EDISON; CINEMATOGRAPH.