502 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 404. 



and labeling a series of exhibits illustrating 

 progressive steps in the art of sculpture. 

 The other series are to be treated in like 

 manner. This art began very early in the 

 career of the race and in forms so simple 

 that they would not at first be recognized 

 as belonging to the art of sculpture by the 



Fig. S. Arrangement of a synoptic exhibit il- 

 lustrating the history of sculpture as elaborated 

 in the U. S. National Museum. /., Series of tools 

 and appliances. //., Series of aboriginal Ameri- 

 can sculptures. III., Series of oriental sculptures. 

 IV., Series of Mediterranean sculptures, a. Case 

 label, b, General descriptive label, cccc, Series 

 labels. 1, 2, 3, 4, etc., Specimen labels. 



unscientific student. "We are able to trace 

 it more fully than any other art because its 

 products are in stone which is not seriously 

 affected by lapse of time. Then again, the 

 tribes and nations of to-day are found to 

 be practicing every known step in the art, 

 from the most elementary to the most high- 

 ly perfected, so that its whole history comes 

 well within the range of present observa- 

 tion, and examples of the tools and the 

 work are available. The first conscious 

 step in the art was probably that of frac- 

 turing one flinty stone with another, with 

 the view of securing a sharp edge for cut- 

 ting and scraping. Three other processes 

 that must have come early into use are 

 those of shaping by pecking, by grinding 

 and by cutting, and for a long period of 

 human progress the only sculpture con- 



sisted of shaping useful implements by 

 these methods. Even to-day these are the 

 processes mainly used, the tools and appli- 

 ances being simple with primitive people 

 and more highly developed among cultured 

 nations. Mechanical aids of considerable 

 complexity are sometimes employed by our 

 modern sculptors. 



The first group of exliibits illustrating 

 the history of the art may well consist of a 

 progressive series of the shaping imple- 

 ments and devices, while two or more ad- 

 ditional series may show the sculptured 

 products. 



In the first stages of the art only simple 

 useful articles were made ; later these were 

 elaborated esthetically and personal orna- 

 ments were added ; then gradually the pro- 

 cesses were applied to working out the 

 rude block-like, imperfectly proportioned 

 figures of animals and men; these were to- 

 tems, fetiches and idols, and illustrate a 

 third stage in ou.r progressive series. Later 

 still, portraiture was attempted and a kind 

 of rigid formal likeness was worked out, 

 marking a fourth step. Then with the 

 higher nations, correct form and expression 

 came into being, and finally the realistic 

 and ideal work represented by the highest 

 Greek art was developed. Exhibits illus- 

 trating the more advanced phases should 

 embody originals of the smaller objects and 

 small-scale reproductions of the larger. If 

 collections are ample, it will prove interest- 

 ing to treat the development of the art on 

 each continent or in each great cultural 

 province separately, as indicated in Fig. 8, 

 thtis affording facilities for interesting com- 

 parative studies. America may furnish one 

 series of exhibits in which the course of de- 

 velopment through the several primitive 

 grades up to the stage of well relieved fig- 

 ures and rude portraiture is traced (16 

 numbers). The Orient may afford a series 

 somewhat more complete (18 numbers), 

 and the Mediterranean province yields il- 



