ced necessarily disastrous to
the native development.

There is much, however, in the art of living tribes, especially of those
least influenced by the whites, capable of throwing light upon the
obscure passages of precolumbian art. By supplementing the study of the
prehistoric by that of historic art, which is still in many cases in its
incipient stages, we may hope to penetrate deeply into the secrets of
the past.

The advantages of this field, as compared with Greece, Egypt, and the
Orient, will be apparent when we remember that the dawn of art in these
countries lies hidden in the shadow of unnumbered ages, while ours
stands out in the light of the very present. This is well illustrated by
a remark of Birch, who, in dwelling upon the antiquity of the fictile
art, says that "the existence of earthen vessels in Egypt was at least
coeval with the formation of a written language."[1] Beyond this there
is acknowledged chaos. In strong contrast with this, is the fact that
all precolumbian American pottery _precedes_ the acquisition of written
language, and this contrast is emphasized by the additional fact that it
also antedates the use of the wheel, that great perverter of the plastic
tendencies of clay.

[Footnote 1: Birch: History of Ancient Pottery, 1873, p. 8.]

The material presented in the following notes is derived chiefly from
the native ceramic art of the United States, but the principles involved
are applicable to all times and to all art, as they are based upon the
laws of nature.

Ceramic art presents two classes of phenomena of importance in the study
of the evolution of aesthetic culture. These relate, first, to _form_,
and second, to _ornament_.

_Form_, as embodied in clay vessels, embraces, 1st, _useful shapes_,
which may or may not be ornamental, and, 2d, _aesthetic shapes_, which
are ornamental and may be useful. There are also _grotesque_ and
_fanciful shapes_, which may or may not be either useful or ornamental.

No form or class of forms can be said to characterize a particular age
or stage of culture. In a general way, of course, the vessels of
primitive peoples will be simple in form, while those of more advanced
races will be more varied and highly specialized.

The shapes first assumed by vessels in clay depend upon the shape of the
vessels employed at the time of the introduction of the art, and these
depend, to a great extent, upon the kind and grade of culture of the
people acquirin