sa a 
; Miscelliéieian: 387 
of establishing this department in all the public seminaries in this 
Union. The elements of the graphic art were furnished to man 
by his maker, and consequently if we cultivate the imitative arts, 
we obey a natural law. Man, in his primitive state, surrounded by 
innumerable and dissimilar forms, and possessing only a limited lan- 
guage, soon found that he was unable fully to pourtray the vivid im- 
pressions made on his faculties; but by availing himself of the 
straight and curve line, he was able to represent every thing, living 
or material. ‘Thus, man, as by a new creation, multiplies resem- 
blances of all he sees or admires on the globe, and joyfully discovers 
that with ¢wo lines he can give apparent life and animation. If any 
acquirement is capable of elevating the character of man, or of making 
him proud of his profession, it is that, which by such simple means, 
can produce such effects. 
Natural History, Botany, Mineralogy, the art of writing, music 
and many other arts cannot, at this day, be taught, successfully, with- 
out borrowing the two lines of Nature. Even mathematics, in their 
best and most useful applications, would be unintelligible without a 
previous knowledge and use of the straight and curve line. In delin- 
eating, in circumscribed space, the forms, position and dimensions of 
bodies; in linear perspective ; in descriptive geometry ; in optics, 
&e., the general properties of lines and angles are employed ; and in 
surgery thousands are saved by an exact knowledge of anatomy, en- 
lightened: by correct drawings of every part of the complicated struc- 
ture of our frame. If it were possible to obliterate from the memory 
of man, all he has acquired, or invented by his graphic powers, we 
should bring him back to the age of ignorance and barbarism. While, 
therefore, contemplating the magnificent and beautiful works of the 
creator, let us be thankful for the enjoyments which they thus afford, 
especially by the aid of an art, which has furnished such proofs of 
the genius of man, and operated both as a cause and effect of his 
civilization. Can we then any longer give these arts the slighting 
name of an accomplishment ? : 
What models shall we select, to improve our graphic faculties, and 
to form our taste? Two distinct classes of objects naturally present 
themselves to us; regular and irregular. Among the many regular 
forms, the figure of man stands the most conspicuous, for beauty and 
symmetry and for intellectual expression. In the attempt to delineate 
such a difficult subject, correct principles and well selected rules will 
enable the pupil to establish a perfect harmony betwixt the eye and 
