What influenced muybridge?

Muybridge was one of the first people to photograph motion. He didn't have a camera that could photograph motion (like a movie camera or a video camera) because they didn't exist, so instead he set up a row of cameras, rigged each with a thin wire attached to the shutter release, and sent something like a horse or a running person through the line of cameras. As the subject moved, it broke the wires which fired the cameras.