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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVIII. No. 719 



when every student of the natural sciences 

 will be obliged to take a thorough course in 

 drawing as adapted to his own special re- 

 quirements. And I hope, as well that this 

 course will be so arranged that the stu- 

 dent will understand at least the theory 

 of the several processes by which the 

 printer reproduces a drawing. In fact, I 

 wish this address to be considered as a 

 stroke toward that end. 



Just when the first drawing was made 

 to illustrate an idea, of course, can not 

 be determined. Perhaps it was nothing 

 more pretentious than a simple sketch, 

 fashioned with a sharpened twig upon 

 some smooth bit of sand. From such a 

 small beginning, however, graphic art has 

 developed prodigiously, and to-day it forms 

 a large integer in nearly every branch of 

 science. In view of this, almost every 

 university of repute, both in this country 

 and abroad, employs a salaried scientific 

 artist. At Johns Hopkins, in Baltimore, 

 where is situated perhaps our best medical 

 college, an actual corps of expert artists is 

 kept busily employed in illustrating scien- 

 tific articles there produced. 



But this growth has not been unattended 

 with set-backs. Graphic art has not won 

 its place in scientific work without many a 

 bitter struggle. In truth, even at this late 

 date there are, unfortunately, many inves- 

 tigators doing exceptionally good work, 

 who do not appreciate the highest type of 

 drawing, and actually refuse to include it 

 in their publications. 



This folly can not be attributed to any 

 personal aversion entertained towards fine 

 art, it is simply the result of ignorance. 

 These individuals have not been properly 

 trained to see the good points in realistic 

 drawing, and, not being by nature of an 

 artistic trend, they simply refrain from 

 adopting something they can not under- 

 stand. As an example of this occasional 

 "tiff" between realistic and diagrammatic 



representation of scientific work, the fol- 

 lowing experience of a student with a 

 " hard-headed man of science " might be 

 cited : 



AU the drawings made in the zoological 

 laboratory of this particular school were 

 being done in black-and-white, but the 

 student felt that if drawing has any value 

 at all in the study of zoology, it should be 

 to direct the observer's attention to all 

 the features of the object examined— its 

 color as well as its morphological charac- 

 teristics. Accordingly, he brought a color 

 box with him one day into the laboratory, 

 and started to draw a certain preparation 

 with as near the same color-variations pre- 

 sented as his talent permitted. This draw- 

 ing soon attracted admiring glances from 

 the other students engaged in the labora- 

 tory. When it was about completed, the 

 principal of the school, the " hard-headed 

 man of science " approached the " real- 

 ist," and said with some asperity: " This 

 is not an art-academy, this is a zoological 

 laboratory. Ton had better make your 

 drawings in simple black-and-white." Had 

 the astonished student been behind in his 

 work, had his respect for realism produced 

 a bad effect on the decorum of the class, 

 or had his drawing not been the best in the 

 laboratory, I think he would have been 

 honest enough to have taken the princi- 

 pal's advice. But none of these things 

 were so. In consequence he thought the 

 excellencies of his product sufficient justifi- 

 cation for its novelity, and, without lay- 

 ing down his brush, he answered respect- 

 fully but firmly: " If science does not 

 approve at present of life-like illustrations, 

 the day must come when it will!" The 

 principal made no reply and walked away 

 with a frown. The student found out 

 afterwards, however, that he was no in- 

 novator, as very excellent scientific draw- 

 ings in color had been made a good hun- 

 dred years before that old fellow was 



