September 11, 1896.] 



SCIENCE, 



323 



ation. The result may be a happy one 

 only when the means employed are rightly 

 chosen and properly adapted to the end 

 sought. In this process of creating some- 

 thing of value, something that helps man 

 to a fuller, richer and better life, the artistic 

 cannot be left out. In its absence the de- 

 sign falls far short of its possible perfection 

 and man is deprived of what is due him, 

 though not perhaps distinctly conscious of 

 the loss. In a certain sense then every 

 engineer is an artist, and in some directions 

 at least, as in architecture and other forms 

 of construction and in the making of public 

 parks, the result of his cultured brain may 

 attain to the dignity of a work of ' fine art.' 

 Perhaps, in its true essence, there may be 

 as much fine art in the design of a machine 

 to produce bolts as there is in the making 

 of a picture for the Salon ; certainly the 

 well-planned tool with fine proportions and 

 parts perfectly related is aboye the poor 

 canvas. 



To every true man there is a joy in cre- 

 ation that is not satisfied with anything 

 less than the best of which he is capable. 

 As Emerson has said, '' I look on that man 

 as happy who, when there is question of 

 success, looks into his work for a reply, not 

 into the market, not into opinion, not into 

 patronage." >i^ * * " What is vulgar, and 

 the essence of all vulgarity, but the avarice 

 of reward ? ' Tis the difierence of artisan 

 and artist, of talent and genius, of sinner 

 and saint." But beyond this, which is the 

 purely personal side of the matter, lies ser- 

 vice, the designing for the use and conven- 

 ience of man. From the vantage ground of 

 his position as a man of educated intelli- 

 gence and trained ability, the engineer 

 owes the world his best effort. It needs 

 and asks for technical skill and scientific 

 knowledge whereby to-day's work may be 

 done. But also, without knowing exactly 

 what it wants, it feels the need of those 

 added qualities it cannot define, and seeks 



for guidance and help to something better 

 for to-morrow. In the long run, it will 

 honor the man that meets the demand and 

 will measure his efficiency on more grounds 

 than that of dollars and cents. 



To the superficial or hasty thinker there 

 may appear a conflict here between the 

 utilitarian and the artistic, but there can 

 be no real antagonism. The result of an 

 act of designing is to be judged as a whole 

 in the light of all the purposes to be ful- 

 filled. The physical conditions imposed 

 by the materials used and the forces of na- 

 ture employed are to be met. These condi- 

 tions must be expressed in the design 

 frankly and candidly, and in such a way as 

 to indicate clearly its purpose and to gratify 

 the observer through its proportions, sym- 

 metry, harmony and decoration. The end 

 desired must be attained in the most direct 

 and simple way, so that the expenditure of 

 money may be a minimum. These are the 

 three elements of design, scientific, aesthetic , 

 and the financial. A disregard of the re- 

 quirements of the first may mean structural 

 or organic weakness, on the one hand; or on 

 the other, an excess of material that un- 

 duly adds to the cost and at the same time 

 may produce heaviness or ugly proportions 

 in the completed work. Non-compliance 

 with the demands of the second makes the 

 design fail in fulfilling its complete mission; 

 this applies with the same force to those 

 cases where a poorly directed attempt has 

 been made to be artistic in expression, as 

 to those in which no attention whatever has 

 been paid to the matter. Artistic treat- 

 ment often costs money, yet the mere ex- 

 penditure of cash will not secure it. On 

 the other hand, the proper display of good 

 taste may often come without the spending 

 of a dollar more than is made necessary by 

 the other conditions surrounding the prob- 

 lem. A wealth of ornamentation may be 

 brazen and vulgar, while beauty and grace 

 may be found in the simple lines of a ma- 



