saltation

A leap, jump or dance.

still keeping time to the music like Harlequin in a pantomime, he thrust a letter into our hero′s hand, and continued his saltation without pause or intermission.

The act of jumping, or hopping, using all legs simultaneously (although the contribution to motion is typically made chiefly by the hind legs).

Beating or palpitation.

the saltation of the great artery

A sudden change from one generation to the next; a mutation.

Indeed we have always thought that Mr. Darwin has unnecessarily hampered himself by adhering so strictly to his favourite “Natura non facit saltum.” We greatly suspect that nature does make considerable jumps in the way of variation now and then, and that these saltations give rise to some of the gaps which appear to exist in the series of known forms.

Any abrupt transition.

Thus, a tap that precedes the final one by a tenth of a second will likely appear to be midway between the contactors, whereas a tap preceding the final one by only 20 ms will appear to be virtually superimposed on it. Because the overall experience is of a stimulus jumping from place to place, Geldard called the phenomenon saltation.[…]First, saltation can occur only over a limited distance: A tap on the shoulder will not be drawn toward a later one delivered to the foot.