No. XX.] APPENDIX. 283 



judge of these matters. From the best consideration which I can give to 

 the subject, I am inclined to believe that, with regard to paintings, it will 

 reduce to rule the methods intuitively practised by our great and honoured 

 masters ; and, with respect to photographs, it may be possibly found to 

 supply the desideratum so long required of delineating a delicately-shaded 

 picture, instead of, as at present, a hard perspective drawing. 



" In viewing these binocular representations, the best effect is produced 

 by examining them with one eye when they are tolerably close ; or, if two 

 eyes be employed, by viewing the representation at such a distance that 

 we are not enabled to detect the flatness of the picture, and thus discover 

 the cheat. How far we may take liberties with the distance between the 

 two sights, for the camera, will be a subject of future investigation under 

 various circumstances. 



" The light falling upon the edges of bodies obliquely is reflected to a 

 considerable extent. This effect must be carefully noted by the painter, 

 as this phenomenon much increases the appearance of the rotundity of 

 bodies. In this case the light is the colour of the source from which it 

 arises. Sometimes it is white light ; in the evening it is red. 



" In the cases of bodies in a plane either before or behind the point of 

 sight, which from their size and position are seen in two places at once, 

 the impression of one is generally neglected. In these instances it does 

 not follow that the light reflected from one image should be reflected from 

 the other, because, from the position of the eyes, the position may not be 

 congenial for reflection in both cases. The effect of light is extremely 

 difficult for the painter to represent, because white or yellow paint is a 

 very poor substitute for the glorious light of day. 



" The investigations which I have conducted upon binocular perspective 

 have afforded instructive and interesting views of the mental image which 

 results from the combined physical pictures of both eyes. To represent 

 this mental image so that it may be visible at one glance, has been a work 

 with me of much thought ; and its practical application has been a deduc- 

 tion from my electro-biological speculations." 



XX. 



ON EDUCATION. LETTER OF ALFRED SMEE ADDRESSED TO THE 

 COMMITTEE OF INDUSTRIAL INSTRUCTION IN 1853. 



I have very carefully considered the various questions transmitted 

 by the Committee of Industrial Instruction, and beg to submit the 

 following remarks in reference to the matter. 



1. It appears to me in the highest degree desirable that the endowed 

 grammar schools should teach subjects more congenial with the spirit 

 and requirements of the present time. Having been educated at St. 

 Paul's School, I can confidently state that many important branches of 

 knowledge now neglected could be taught in addition to the mere routine 

 of Latin and Greek. Childhood is that time of life which is most suited 

 to receive knowledge by the medium of the senses, and hence an exclusive 

 application to grammar, Latin and Greek, does not comport with the 

 natural aptitudes of the individual at that period. To meet this im- 

 portant defect, it would be desirable to add to the present usual course of 

 study the elements of Arithmetic, Chemistry, Physics, and Natural History. 



