October 9, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



475 



occasional use of an artist, perforce, as a 

 sort of necessary evil. But the little money 

 at disposal for his pay oftentimes pre- 

 cludes the services of a capable and ex- 

 perienced man. Yet, if the employment 

 of inferior artists in the production of 

 text-books is, in the end, a form of extrav- 

 agance, it is doubly so in the illustration 

 of purely investigative labor. The very 

 fact that the observer so frequently calls 

 in graphic art to assist in his presentation 

 of a study, proves that he feels there are 

 certain clefts in the description of this 

 study which words can not bridge over. 

 He needs an optical picture. If this 

 optical picture is not just as he sees it in 

 his preparations, there is bound to be a 

 conflict between it and his text, which is 

 bound to confuse rather than enlighten the 

 reader. Therefore, the best drawing 

 should be utilized, and only the best. But 

 again comes the discouraging complaint: 

 "How is the best drawing to be obtained 

 when sufficient funds are not at hand to 

 employ a good artist, and with hardly 

 enough for a poor one?" This condition 

 will exist until the investigator throws 

 aside his lukewarm attitude in the matter, 

 and takes up an earnest campaign to- 

 wards furnishing the necessary money for 

 the employment of his indispensable ally, 

 viz. : the finished scientific artist. 



I can recall instance after instance where 

 an investigator has worried through weeks 

 and even months of vexation with an in- 

 ferior artist, and, as soon as the illustrative 

 work was completed, forgotten all about his 

 trials until it became necessary to call upon 

 the illustrator for the needs of another 

 publication. In the period of suspended 

 graphic activity no attempt was made by 

 the investigator, or at best, only a feeble, 

 abortive one, to supply a competent artist. 

 Every facility, on the other hand, would 

 be called into play to supply the labora- 

 tory paraphernalia requisite to the proper 



pursuance of investigative procedures, but 

 the artist, secondary only to the text in 

 the publishing of this investigation, had 

 been almost completely overlooked. Now 

 who is to know about this desired help 

 if the individual who needs it most does 

 not give it expression? A faculty is not 

 to be censured if it does not take steps 

 towards allowing each research labora- 

 tory under its dominion the financial 

 means to emply a capable artist, if the 

 director of that laboratory has not vigor- 

 ously presented his need of one. Granting 

 that the available funds of an institution 

 are not plentiful enough to allow the in- 

 stallation of a trained scientific artist in 

 any one or in the different departments of 

 investigation, the heads of the departments 

 should see to it then that no opportunity 

 passes to bring this keenly felt want before 

 the consideration of wealthy, public- 

 spirited individuals who are able to con- 

 tribute towards its dissipation. 



With the establishment of paying po- 

 sitions, and schools for their proper train- 

 ing, to be described later, there can be 

 no doubt that the number of skilled, 

 scientific artists would rapidly increase. 

 Further, the number of scientific artists 

 who, at present, do not understand the im- 

 mense advantages offered by a high type 

 of realistic graphic art would speedily 

 diminish by the coming in contact with 

 those who are able and determined to prac- 

 tise it. 



In the preceding remarks, frequent ref- 

 erence has been made to realistic graphic 

 at-t, or realistic drawing. These terms 

 should be self-explanatory, but, not wish- 

 ing any confusion to arise, a fairly ex- 

 haustive discussion of them will be hardly 

 superfluous. 



Let us suppose that nothing more com- 

 plex is to be represented than an ordinary 

 bottle, standing on a table and at some 

 distance from, although in, the unob- 



