THE SCIENCE OF ART FORM. 695 



center of gravity should be so well within its base that there will be 

 no danger of its being upset by the ordinary uses to which it is 

 exposed. Pots and pans, pitchers, lamps, and candlesticks, of gen- 

 eral and daily household use, should have bases so broad and weight 

 so low that the accidental bump of the inexperienced " help " will 

 not be inevitably fatal. 



When utensils are made more for show than for use, as those 

 in Fig. 10, and are to occupy places of comparative security, beauty 

 more than utility may be considered in the proportions of their 

 supports. Where utility has disappeared altogether and the sug- 

 gested outline of a vase, for instance, is used for purely ornamen- 

 tal purpose, supports may be done away with altogether, as appears 

 in these drawings of Italian tapestries of the seventeenth century 

 (Fig. 11). 



The stability of pendant objects must also be considered. It 

 is evident that the perpendicular line of suspension must be the line 

 of equilibrium, and that these two must correspond with the de- 

 sign (Fig. 12). Whether any objects should under any circum- 

 stances be exposed to the real and apparent danger of falling is a 

 question. We have got so into the habit of hanging pictures, en- 

 gravings, and other works of art in our houses, and of seeing them 

 hung in galleries, that we have lost sight of the incongruity of the 

 custom. Pictures should be impaneled, and be permanent parts of 

 the walls on which they appear. But, then, how could they be 

 moved when owners tire of them, or tire of their houses, or how 

 could they be gathered together in museums for purposes of study 

 and public enjoyment? Picture frames are of comparatively mod- 

 ern invention. The idea of buying a picture for the purpose of sell- 

 ing it again was not entertained before the fifteenth century. Pic- 

 tures were as substantial parts of churches and houses as were 

 shrines and fireplaces. 



Having very cursively reviewed the elements of form, we are 

 in a position to understand decoration, which is simply the appli- 

 cation to form of ornament. 



The highest authenticated points at which flowering plants have here- 

 tofore been found growing upon the Andes are at about 17,000 feet, al- 

 though the Kew Herbarium contains several specimens labeled as having 

 been found at altitudes of from 17,000 to 18,000 feet. Sir Martin Con- 

 way has brought back from his recent explorations in the Bolivian moun- 

 tains at least half a dozen species from 18,000 feet and upward, the high- 

 est being from about 18,500 feet. They include a saxifrage, a mallow, a 

 valerian, and several Compositoe. Compositce likewise attain the upper 

 limit of phanerogamous vegetation in Thibet, where, in latitudes from 

 30° to 34°, one was found by Dr. Thorold at 19,000 feet. 



