Literature and the Fine Arts. xli 



Hake-white clouds spattered over it by a dexterous move- 

 ment of the palette knife ; but I would have him bring an 

 artist's eye, and an artist's mind to the heavens above." 



Moreover, I would have students taught the reason why one 

 class of lines, or forms, or colours, gratifies the eye more than 

 another. Max Muller some time ago explained anatomically 

 the reason of the universal admiration bestowed upon curves 

 instead of straight lines. He told us, that the eye is 

 moved in its orbit by six {i.e., the four recti and the two 

 oblique) muscles, of which four (the recti) are respectively 

 employed to raise, depress, turn to the right, and to the left. 

 The other two (the oblique) have an action contrary to each 

 other, and roll the eye on its axis, or from the outside down- 

 ward, and inside upward. When therefore an object is pre- 

 sented for inspection, the first act is that of circumvision on 

 going round the boundary lines, so as to bring consecutively 

 every individual portion of the circumference upon the most 

 delicate and sensitive portion of the retina. Now, if figures 

 bounded by straight lines be presented for inspection, it is 

 obvious that but two of these muscles can be called into 

 action, and it is equally evident that in curves of a circle or 

 ellipse, all must alternately be brought into action ; the 

 effect then is, that if only two be employed, as in rectilinear 

 figures, those two have an undue share of labour, and by 

 repeating the experiment frequently, as we do in childhood 

 the notion of tedium is instilled, a distaste for straight lines 

 is gradually formed, and we are led to prefer those curves 

 which supply a more general and equable share of work to 

 the muscles. This explanation, it will be seen, happily 

 introduces science into the province of art, and there can be 

 no question, that both high art and pure literature may 

 occasionally profit by invoking aid from Science. 



The drawing taught in our State Schools, and in the 

 so-called Schools of Design, if we may judge by the work of 

 the pupils occasionally exhibited, is of a very mechanical 

 kind. The examples, for the most part, show neither taste, 

 feeling, originality, nor technical facility. No art principles 



