756 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



rience as a teacher, agrees entirely witli the opinion expressed by- 

 Mr. Prellwitz. Mr. D wight W. Tryon,* N. A., Professor of Fine 

 Arts, Smith College, whose reputation as an artist is interna- 

 tional, whose pictures have been practically loaded with medals, 

 the list of which would be too long to publish here, has had vast 

 experience as a teacher, but has taken no note of the previous 

 training of the pupils that come under his observation. He says 

 of the average adult, " The power of observation seems hope- 

 lessly atrophied" 



The above-quoted opinions of men who have a reputation as 

 artists in the highest art circles seem to corroborate Mr. Whee- 

 lock, and extend the application to the whole country, the opin- 

 ion of the " art teachers' associations " to the contrary notwith- 

 standing. 



The late Mr. William M. Hunt, reputed one of the ablest art 

 teachers of America, said to his pupils : f " You don't drill enough. 

 None of you know what mechanical drawing is. Go into the 

 schools where that and nothing else is taught, and try to add 

 their exactness to what you are now doing. . . . One thing let me 

 tell you : you must learn to make exact lines." X This opinion, 

 held almost universally, that the mechanical drill of drawing 

 exact measured lines and spaces leads to the exact observing of 

 lines and spaces, form and color, has led to the use of mechanical 

 drawing methods to obtain accuracy of location in educational 

 free-hand drawing. It seems plausible ; but mechanical drawing, 

 like writing, is to a degree technical. " What arts and skills a 

 young man may learn of any master for the sake of mere advan- 

 tage is in itself just as indifferent to the educator as the color he 

 chooses for his clothes."* 



By actual measure the error that will escape the effort of 

 the mechanical draughtsman, directed for fifteen minutes to its 

 removal unaided by any mechanism, will be four times as 

 great as the error that will elude the figure painter for a like 

 time, opinions of the figure painter to the contrary notwith- 

 standing. 



The following table shows the error, in inches and fractions, 

 and angle in degrees, that will be left by the average adult re- 

 corded in the several vocations named : 



* Tryon, Dwigbt William, born in Hartford, Conn., 1849. Pupil of Daubigny, Jacques- 

 son de la Cbcvreuse and Guillement. A. N. A. Member of American Water Color Society. 

 Medals, American Art Association, 1886 and 1887. Second Ilallgarten Prize, 1887. Ell- 

 worth Prize, Chicago, 1889. Palmer Prize, Chicago, 1880. Webb Prize, 1889, and many 

 more. (Catalogue Society of American Artists, 1891.) 



f W. M. Hunt. Lectures, second series, p. 17. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1883. 

 X Ibid., p. 36. 



* Herbart. Introduction to General Pedagogics. 



