48 ANSWERS TO PRACTICAL QUESTIONS 



sailing through Newport harbor early one morning, in a dense 

 fog, he observed on the apparently distant wharf some very tall 

 men. While he was remarking upon their extraordinary size, 

 he was astonished to see them jumping about like children, and 

 otherwise behaving in a most unaccountable manner. Pres- 

 ently, as the sun dispersed the fog, he found that he was closo 

 to the wharf, and that the gigantic men were really a party of 

 small boys amusing themselves with play. 



The opposite mistake is made when the atmosphere is more 

 transparent than that to which we are accustomed. Foreign 

 travelers in Switzerland, who have started on foot to visit a 

 glacier or a mountain-peak which seemed within easy distance, 

 have often been surprised to find, after two or three hours of 

 brisk walking, that the object of their desire seemed as far 

 away as at first. So in looking across a sheet of water, where 

 there are no intervening objects, distance is always underrated. 



When we throw a stone at an object in the water we find 

 that our eye has deceived us, and the stone falls far short of 

 the mark. For the same reason, objects seen on the shore from 

 the water seem much less than their natural size. The fact is, 

 they appear of the magnitude which belongs to the distance, 

 but we suppose the distance less than it is ; and, associating 

 tnis magnitude with diminished distance, they appear to us less 

 than they really are. 



In order to form these judgments correctly, one of these 

 elements must be fixed. From this we learn to institute a com- 

 parison, and thus form an accurate opinion. If we know the 

 magnitude of an object, the change in its color and outline will 

 teach us its distance. If we know its distance, we can judge of 

 its magnitude. Hence, painters, in order to give us a correct 

 idea of an object which they represent, always place in its 

 vicinity something with whose real magnitude we are familiar. 

 Thus, to show the size of a pyramid, an Arab with his camel 

 may be drawn at its foot. If the pyramid were represented by 

 itself, its intended size might be mistaken ; but every one knows 

 the size of a camel, and from this he would judge of the mag- 

 nitude of a pyramid. Wayland's Intellectual Philosophy, p. 78, 

 et seq. 



