1849.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



47 



intervention of a tool of some sort. All other beasts can only do 

 what their own claws, teeth, or tails can eifect, or wliat the organic 

 tools with which they are furnished, as the trunk of the elephant, 

 is specially intended to perform. The powers and tools being de- 

 tached, man can do more, for he has the command of all ; whereas 

 the elephant is bounded by what his trunk can do for him. If all 

 men had to do the same thing, those who did not would possess a 

 vast quantity of unemployed and useless power : but as it is, man 

 may choose what tools he pleases, use them as he likes, and lay 

 them aside when he no longer wants them (p. 74). 



Of the .3isthetic arts, Mr. Fergusson rightly says that the senses 

 on which they depend are capaljle of an extension, which, e.xcept 

 in the sense of sight by the invention of tlie telescope and micro- 

 scope, they have not received, and certainly not to the extent of 

 the technic and phonetic arts. 



Speech the writer treats as the reflex of intellect, and as a dis- 

 tinguishing characteristic of man, from which result a number of 

 arts. 



Having laid down these three groups, he does not require that 

 they should be accepted as strict classes, but as forming combina- 

 tions and modifications , and he arranges them thus, so as to make 

 seven groups : 



Technic 



Technic 

 Technic 

 Technic 



iEsthetic 

 .^'Esthetic 

 iEsthetic 



Esthetic 



Phonetic 

 Phonetic 

 Phonetic 

 Phonetic 



In carrying out this classification, Mr. Fergusson would have 

 benefitted by the application of the principles he laid down in his 

 previous classifications, for tlie tables he has given are meagre and 

 imperfect. It would take up too much room to give them in this 

 Journal, although such a conspectus is well calculated to show how 

 many branches of art are left uncultivated. 



The Technic arts are considered under the heads of Powers, 

 Applied Powers, Primary Arts, Applied Arts, and Refined Arts. 



In summing up the sources of Power, the writer has omitted 

 many which result from the consideration of the several branches 

 of creation. The light, heat, and actinism of the sun are used by 

 us as powers ; in the case of daguerreotypes, even the light of the 

 moon has been made available ; and we do not even yet know what 

 resources may be obtained from without this world. The recent 

 applications of electricity are among the most promising contribu- 

 tions to science ; but the powers derived from Etherology are still 

 undeveloped. The enumeration, as powers, of chemical attraction 

 and repulsion, gases, steam, elasticity, air, and water, is imperfect 

 and confused : but Mr. Fergusson was too anxious to proceed with 

 his subject to elaborate these. 



If the muscle of man and the allied power of animals are to be 

 recorded, we should not leave out associated men, vital power, 

 mental power, and moral ])ower, for all these are necessary to be 

 considered in the practical determination of the question. Indeed, 

 the determination of these several powers requires to be closely 

 investigated; for the mere consideration of physical strength 

 throws no light on most human operations. 



Under the head of Ajiplied Powers, the writer enrols tools, en- 

 gines, processes, and machinery. 



The Primary Arts, Mr. Fergusson calls those for obtaining raw 

 materials; but here again the classification is imperfect. 



The Applied Arts are those by which raw materials are worked 

 up and combined. 



The Refined Arts are those in which, by the addition of the 

 element of "beauty," a higher character is given. While car- 

 pentry and weaving are called applied arts, upholstery and tailor- 

 ing are called refined arts. 



Mr. Fergusson asserts that the existence of the fine arts depends 

 on a great primary law of human nature (p. 94), which he thus 

 gives: — To every function of which man is capable, there is at- 

 tached a use, and that function is necessary for his existence, or 

 for performing that part in the great drama of the world for 

 which he was created; while, to urge him to the performance of 

 this, severe pains and penalties are attached to the non-performance 

 which he cannot escape, such as hunger, cold, misery, and disease. 

 On the other hand, there is attached to the exercise of every 

 function, a certain inducement or gratification to its exercise, 

 which he thinks may be in man greater than the compulsory force. 

 To this inducement or attraction, the writer gives the name of 

 "beauty" or "sense of beauty," meaning thereby the gratification 

 we are able to extract out of every useful function we perform, 

 and which is necessarilv attached to it. He therefore considers 



that all the useful arts are capable of becoming fine arts, — or, in 

 other words, besides ministering to our necessities, they may be- 

 come sources of pleasure and gratification; of course, in several 

 degrees, for some only minister to our sensual appetites, while 

 others tax to the utmost our intellectual powers. Thus, however 

 far removed, gastronomy and lyric poetry may equally be classed 

 as fine arts. All common and useful things may be refined into 

 objects of beauty, and all that is beautiful or high in art is 

 merely an elaboration and refinement of what is fundamentally a 

 useful and a necessary art. 



This leads the writer to a review of the refined arts and lower 

 fine arts, after asserting that the taste of each man is unlike, and 

 that there is no mind so lowly that beauty may not creep into it, 

 if only through the song of the bird, the sight of the veide fields, 

 or the glow of the setting sun. Each, too, can feel beauty in his 

 own trade or calling, or in his own round of life. For each, then, 

 must some provision be made; and if only the lower arts are felt, 

 the lower arts must not be set aside. Gastronomy, tailoring, 

 millinery, floriculture, and landscape gardening, are broiiglit first 

 before us, and the writer has a word for each. Of the two latter, 

 he says, if we were to foster all the arts with tlie same singleness 

 as we have these two, they would not stand so forward in the list 

 as they now do. 



It is to be observed of floriculture, that no art is under a system 

 more likely to foster it. In the metropolis, 1,200/. is yearly given 

 in rewards by the Horticultural Society, 1,000/. by the Royal 

 Botanic Society, and further rewards by others, — about 3,000/. 

 yearly, which is applied solely in the reward of merit. This sum 

 is competed for by private growers and by nurserymen; and to 

 gain the prizes, the most skUful gardeners are employed, and 

 great emulation created. The nurseryman obtains, too, a further 

 reward in the sale of plants, which earn rewards. At the Royal 

 Botanic Gardens, in the Regent's Park, the judges of the rewards 

 are named by the votes of the growers in each class. It is to be 

 wished that rewards should be given specifically for plants of fine 

 form, colour, and smell. The CKltivation of the two latter pro- 

 perties would open new branches of study. Tlie Royal Botanic 

 Society have devoted some attention to artistic botany, but not of 

 late years. It should be further said, that the expenses of the 

 exhibitors for conveyance of subjects are paid, and that refresh- 

 ments are given to them on the day of exhibition. Every facility 

 is likewise given in the public gardens for the studies of the florist. 

 The public taste and public sympathies are largely enlisted in the 

 pursuits of the florist. 



If the same sum were devoted yearly to the reward of painting, 

 sculpture, architecture, or engraving, the same facilities given, 

 and the same mode of choosing judges adopted, a much better re- 

 sult would be obtained than as matters are now conducted. There 

 is no similar reward of merit for painting, sculpture, architecture, or 

 engraving, and there is no freedom for the artist. It may, too, be 

 said, that a much larger sum is spent on flowers than on paintings. 

 Many a man spends two or three hundred pounds a-year on his 

 greenhouse, who ne\er buys a picture, a cast, or an engraving, 

 which will last, and which can be handed down to his children; 

 whereas his flowers soon fade. 



If an exhibition of architecture, sculpture, or engraving, should 

 be set up, as has been talked of, the best way to make it successful 

 will be to set aside the profits as rewards of works in several 

 classes; for thereby a direct stimulus is given to the artists in 

 each department, and the public take an interest in the race. 



Mr. Fergusson says, if any Englishman abroad thinks of what 

 he left in his home which is most beautiful, it is not of our paint- 

 ing, or sculpture, nor of our architecture, nor of anything com- 

 monly called fine art; but between the great man's park, and the 

 little cottage garden, he will remember many scenes and objects of 

 beauty, which, if he have any artistic feelings, will not soon be 

 driven from his mind. 



Of course, jewellery, plating, ironmongery, carriages, ships, glass, 

 porcelain, mosaic, paving, and upholstery, come in for their share 

 of attention, and they receive a few remarks well worthy of being 

 read. 



Architecture, the writer says, arises out of the useful art of 

 building by such slow steps that it is hard to draw tlie line be- 

 tween them, or to say whether some buildings should be set down 

 as utilitarian, or take a higher rank. He says rightly, that ev»n 

 of those warehouses which lay no claim to high art, a few dressings 

 to the windows, and grouping these slightly together, and a little 

 attention in the arrangement of the several parts, might often 

 give a higher aud pleasing character. 



While classing architecture in the same list as cookery and 

 tailoring, he says of its \iorks, that it has some adventitious ad- 



