Dec. iS, 1884] 



NA TURE 



161 



of thought a- well as of observation, and the measure of thought, 



1- applied to form, is in exact ratio to the knowledge of the 

 if it, and the knowledge of them the measure of intelli- 

 gent deliL;li! in observing and recording their results. Accept 

 this as a fact — art cannot bt divorced from science, for it is science 

 which teaches us to see truly, and by art we render the truth we 

 see. In representing the human figure, this has been a recognised 

 factfor] wo thousand years. They who have drawn 



the figure finely have been earnest students of anatomy. Vet 

 the anatomy of landscape-forms has been persistently ignored by 

 all but a very few. The recognition of the anatomy of landscape 

 as an art-study is a very modern recognition indeed. Yet to see 

 truly in order to render truly is of as paramount importance in 

 the representation of landscape as in that of the figure. Indi- 

 vidual form is a correlation of scientific facts, a knowdedge of which 

 enables us to understand its structure and to imitate its appear- 

 ance with correctness. It is mainly with these that we have to 

 lo if we would represent a mountain, a tree, a cloud. It is true 

 that all forms are modified by their environment — by a ceaseless 

 struggle with the varying conditions by which they are sur- 

 rounded — while the modifications are the result of scientific facts 

 as the forms themselves are. So, if we would represent objects 

 truly, science alone can be our guide ; for it is science which 

 teaches us to see truly, not through the medium of our fancy, 

 but through the exercise of our intelligence. Thus, for example, 

 in these nature-drawing classes, the structural forms of mountains 

 of granite, downs of chalk, hills of limestone, will be presented 

 aid explained side by side with the forms as they at present 

 exist, and which are the results of modifications produced by 



1 nt disintegration and denudation owing to the action of 

 rains, frosts, winds, glaciers, streams, &c, during vast lapses of 

 time. So with the structural forms of trees and their environ- 

 ment — whether of Coniferse on the limits of the snow line ; or 

 trees in a dense forest-growth or on the outskirts of a wood ; 

 within the Arctic Circle or in tropical regions ; affected by 

 climatic extremes, by drought or excessive moisture ; the free 

 access of light or through its deficiency ; by the repeated action 

 of winds mainly in one direction distorting the tree, or their 

 influence in many giving a healthy stimulus to the circulation of 

 the sap. 1 It is needless further to pursue the explanation of the 

 plan it is proposed to carry out in landscape-art ; enough has 

 been explained to make clear the object in view and the method 



pursued. But the student must be prepared for many 

 objections which will be raised: by painters careless of truth, 

 and by some scientists who will insist on divorcing science from 

 11: because they feel their own minds chained by love of minute 

 and beautiful detail, not thinking it possible for other minds to 

 I their freedom ; by painters too lazy to enter the field of 

 science, and who will assert that the mission of the artist is to 

 represent what he sees, or rather what he fancies he sees, no 

 matter whether he sees truly or falsely ; or by people who, mis- 

 taking a certain deftness of handling for a true representation of 

 natural phenomena, will exclaim, " Surely, if such landscape- 

 art as we have has been sufficient in the past to secure public 

 applause, will it not suffice to retain that applause for the art of 

 the future ? or are canvases to be crowded with illustrations of 

 botany, geology, meteorology, bryology, and a host of other 

 ' ologies,' and then to be called landscape-art ?'' Such talk as 

 , common enough, but it is sheer nonsense. To the true 

 a 1 ti^t applause is a very small matter : he will not look to the 

 market for the measure of his success, but he will gauge the 

 quality of his own work, whether it be true or whether it be 

 false. The one question with him is whether his picture is to 

 be a painting of fancies which have no existence except in the 

 idle mind of the ignorant painter, or is it to give us a represent- 

 ation of facts : in short, is it to be true or is it to be a sham ? 

 No true artist will ignore scientific truth, for he knows that it is 

 next t<> impossible truly to generalise a multitude of like forms 

 when he is ignorant of the special characteristics of any one 

 individual form of the group. He will not ignore scientific 

 truth, for that truth is the concrete foundation of all noble, all 

 poetical art. There is one sovereign antidote to that poison so 

 dreaded by some timid minds, viz. the chance that rigid illus- 

 tration of scientific fact will dominate the work, and the anti- 

 dote lies in the individuality of the artist. He will clothe all 

 truth with the poetry of his own nature — with the force of his 

 own character. He will be humbly and faithfully dependent on 



1 Until the student can go direct to Nature he will draw and paint, in the 



higher classes, from water-colour studies which have been executed entirely 



Inors, and of which a large number have been kindly lent by different 



science for his knowledge of all form, but it will be on himself that 

 he will depend for that expression of it through the medium of 

 a psychical truth which is extra-scientific, and transcends in 

 beauty the visible form of all natural truth, of which it is at 

 once the sublimation and the epitome. 



That division of the nature-drawing classes which I purpose 

 to call science-art, presents in its plan a fourfold object. (1) To 

 induce youths while yet at school to take up, seriously, some 

 branch of natural science, with a view, i eventually, to original 

 investigation, and to afford them a power, both with pencil and 

 brush, of accurately recording the results of their observation. 

 (2) To supply that demand which Mr. Norman Lockyer informs 

 us is now being made by scientific men, that students in science 

 shall be able to draw. (3) To supply intelligent and artistic 

 draftsmen for scientific purposes and for the illustrating of scien- 

 tific works. (4) Mainly and especially to engender in young 

 men, before they leave school to enter on the business of life, a 

 love for the pursuit of scientific truth as being amongst the 

 keenest amusements and the truest and most enduring pleasures 

 of life. 



In the ultimate purpose of any instruction lies the test of its 

 future usefulness to the student and to society at large. The 

 teaching of children has in it as much the making of the history 

 of a nation as fighting battles and making laws, and earnest 

 teaching is amongst the grandest employments of life, provided 

 it be noble and useful and good. The teaching which is an 

 inducement to a proper use of time goes far to create an en- 

 vironment which will be beneficial to maintenance and pleasure 

 of life mentally and morally alike, and I know of no better use 

 of time than that of scientific inquiry, which should be en- 

 couraged in all our public schools. So with drawdng. By 

 uniting it with the pursuit of science it will cease to be subject 

 to that derogation it at present suffers through those who regu- 

 late, both within and without, the curriculum of our schools. 

 But here in University College School the governing body is, 

 as is well known, liberal to a fault, and the head master takes 

 considerable interest in this new departure in the teaching of 

 drawing. 



Time will not permit me to dwell long on the plan to be 

 adopted in the classes for science-art. At the commencement 

 one or more scientific subjects will be selected. In connection 

 with these the collecting of objects will be encouraged for pur- 

 poses of investigation and illustration, but collecting for the mere 

 sake of collecting will not be countenanced. Let us take ento- 

 mology as an example. The student will capture the larvae of 

 a/tKMnoths or butterflies. Of each of these larvae he will make 

 careful coloured illustrations from time to time, according to the 

 results of the changes they may undergo. Faithful drawings of 

 the plants they are fed on will be required, also of any evidences 

 of mimicry, defensive or otherwise. Further drawings will be 

 required of the cocoons of such of the larvae as form them, also of 

 the chrysalis and of the fully developed insect (together with its 

 eggs) and of whatever mimetic peculiarities it may present. From 

 time to time original papers will be required stating minutely the 

 observations made while the insect is being reared. After a time 

 the more advanced pupils wall be required to pursue their investi- 

 gations into its anatomical structure and functions, with the use 

 of the microscope. 



A lucid mind will guide the hand to lucid drawing — the la, t is, 

 as it were, a photograph of the first. The habit of clearly defining 

 the object in the mind will lead to clear and definite work with 

 the pencil. To students in science the securing of this power 

 while at school will enable such to meet the requirement- of 

 science-teachers, and will be a source of economy of time and 

 toil. This will form a branch of the teaching in the scic nce-art 

 classes. Moreover it will be the foundation for realising the 

 third object in view, viz. to supply intelligent and artiste drafts- 

 men for scientific purposes, and for illustrating scientific works. 

 In this branch something more — much more — will be required of 

 the pupil than faithful and intelligent exactness of outline of 

 form. For instance, if the boy is drawing some vegetable form, 

 he will be required to observe, closely, not only the peculiarities 

 of the structure, but the habit which is the exemplar of the mind 

 of the plant. Further he will be shown wherein the physical 

 beauty rof the plant resides, and wherein lies that beauty 

 which is suggestive of some psychical power which, for a purpose 

 beyond that of mere physical form, has tinted the butterfly's 

 wing and the corolla of flowers' fertilised by humming-birds. 

 With such instruction there is no reason why the illustrations in 

 works on natural history should not as far transcend most modern 

 illustrations as these transcend those in a nurseryman's catalogue. 



