1.nounAn optical toy, in which figures made to revolve on the inside of a cylinder, and viewed through slits in its circumference, appear like a single figure passing through a series of natural motions as if animated or mechanically moved."1890 : Is consciousness really discontinuous, incessantly interrupted and recommencing (from the psychologist’s point of view) ? and does it only seem continuous to itself by an illusion analogous to that of the zoetrope ? (William James, The principles of psychology, p. 200)."