^4 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 



read an account of a similar plan on a more extended scale, now 

 adopted in the Brooklyn Library, and which is assuming such pro- 

 portions that the space assigned to it is called the " Reference De- 

 partment," and all its subjects are classified. 



Drawing is another opponent to inaction, a recreation too lightly 

 regarded, but which is really a most important adjunct, not only to 

 the pleasures of the leisure hour, but which may be turned to advan- 

 tage in after life. From an industrial point of view there is hardly 

 any trade or occupation in which drawing is not of daily and hourly 

 utility. For technical purposes it is constantly in requisition, by 

 architects, engineers, military and naval men, designers, and others, 

 and its usefulness to geographers, astronomers, artists, and scientific 

 men generally, is justly acknowledged. Hitherto drawing has been 

 the property of the few, and its acquirement in schools has been 

 classed with comportment and calisthenics. Through its power of 

 representing the phenomena of Nature as they appear to the eye, it 

 appeals in the most direct way to every human being. It enables 

 the artist to stir the emotions of all those who can appreciate beauty 

 in formj whatever may be their nationality. Those who aspire to take 

 a leading and active part in the doings of this and the next genera- 

 tion must look to the requirements of the future, since the world's 

 drama is being played on conditions which rapidly change. They 

 will need the fullest developments of the resources of the body, of 

 the senses, of the mind. Without a knowledge of drawing this com- 

 plete efficiency cannot be attained. Drawing is an admirable train- 

 ing for both eye and hand, and although artists, like poets, are born, 

 not made, yet everyone can learn to draw elevations, plans, and sec- 

 tions. It is astonishing how many go through the world without the 

 aid of that marvellous descriptive power which drawing affords. The 

 capacities of youth are a mine of wealth, and it is galling to think in 

 after years that we neglected to work a vein of precious metal until all 

 chance of working it successfully has passed away, and nothing is 

 more depressing than to point to one's wasted hours, and the lost 

 opportunities of by-gone life. 



Makmg collections of various objects is a most interesting recrea- 

 tion — whether the 'specimens be shells, or stones, or plants, or 

 perhaps, stamps, or coins, it matters not, each whilst tending to amuse 

 at the same time instructs. The collection of stamps has often been 



