; but they are too much of one pattern,
and, as a rule, too elaborate.

In the illustration of books of all kinds there should be a more general
use of diagrams and plans to elucidate the text. No new building of
importance should be described anywhere without an indication of the
elevation, if not also of the ground plan; and, as a rule, no picture
should be described without a sketch to indicate the composition. In
history words so often fail to give the correct _locale_ that it seems
wonderful we have no better method in common use. The following rough
plan will illustrate one of the simplest ways of making a description
clear to the reader. Take the verbal one first:--

"The young Bretonne stood under the doorway of the house, sheltered from
the rain which came with the soft west wind. From her point of vantage
on the 'Place' she commanded a view of the whole village, and could see
down the four streets of which it was principally composed."

[Illustration]

In this instance a writer was at some pains to describe (and failed to
describe in three pages) the exact position of the streets near where
the girl stood; and it was a situation in which photography could hardly
help him.

It may seem strange at first sight to occupy the pages of a book on art
with diagrams and elementary outlines, but it must be remembered that
plans and diagrams are at the basis of a system of illustration which
will one day become general. The reason, as already pointed out, for
drawing attention to the subject now, is that it is only lately that
systems have been perfected for reproducing lines on the printed page
almost as rapidly as setting up the type. Thus a new era, so to speak,
in the art of expressing ourselves pictorially as well as verbally has
commenced: the means of reproduction are to hand; the blocks can be
made, if necessary, in less than three hours, and copies can be printed
on revolving cylinders at the rate of 10,000 an hour.

The advance in scientific discovery by means of subtle instruments
brings the surgeon sometimes to the knowledge of facts which, in the
interests of science, he requires to demonstrate graphically, objects
which it would often be impossible to have photographed. With a
rudimentary knowledge of drawing and perspective, the surgeon and the
astronomer would both be better equipped. At the University of
Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, where the majority of students are
intended for the medical p