DESIGN AS A SCIENCE. 

 By Denman W. Ross, Ph. D. 



Presented January 9, 1901. Received January 12, 1901. 



Art may be defined as the expression of Life, or, more specifically, as 

 excellence in the matter of expression ; and excellence, in this case, may 

 be defined as consistency, a consistency in forms of expression. Consist- 

 ency has many manifestations, but they fall under three principal heads : 

 Balance, which is a consistency of oppositions (antitheses) ; Rhythm, 

 which is a consistency of association (joint action or movement) ; and 

 Harmony, which is a consistency of character (likeness). If art is con- 

 sistency in forms of expression, Balance, Rhythm, and Harmony are its 

 principles. They are also the principles of Beauty. We have no other 

 definite conception of beauty. It is a perfect relationship or connection 

 of parts in one organic whole. We find this unity in nature, when we 

 seek it, and we find it in the art of man, homo additus naturae. Wher- 

 ever and whenever we find it, we have the perception of beauty. 



The idea which the Greek philosophers had of art was as nearly as 

 possible the one which I have given as the major premise of this argu- 

 ment, and it is in the art of the Greeks that I have found its most perfect 

 illustration. See Plato, in the Gorgias (§ 504) : "The artist brings all 

 things into order, making one part to harmonize and accord with another, 

 until he has constructed a regular and systematic whole; this," Socrates 

 says, " is true of all artists." Aristotle expresses the same idea when, 

 in his Poetics, he speaks of poetic imitation having " as its subject, a 

 single action, whole and complete, with a beginning, a middle, and an 

 end. It will thus," he says, " resemble a living organism and produce 

 its proper pleasure." See Poetics, xxiii. 1. 



While consistency in forms of expression may be regarded as a defi- 

 nition of art, it is not, of course, a definition of what is significant or im- 

 portant in art. We can take a few lines and put them together so that 

 they shall be absolutely consistent, expressing one idea, unmistakably. 

 The result is a work of art, but the work is unimportant. It is an easy 

 thing to do. The work of art is important in proportion to the number 



