thoughts to the beautiful in all things,-in subject as well as in form and treatment and not to depress and drag them down to the commonplace, and even to what is low and repulsive. Plato made the Good and the Beautiful identical. Colour, light and shade, perspective, and the ease with which familiar objects may be exhibited in the sister art, offer great temptation to the painter, and much attraction to the general mass of the public; and where the taste is not refined the low quality of a subject will not be felt as any drawback. It is not so in sculpture. Any attempt, here, to indulge in the ordinary and commonplace meets its sure Nemesis. Its fate is certain. While the productions of the great Greek schools, in spite of discoloration, dirt, and mutilation, still justly claim the admiration of all real judges of excellence in this art, there is not a single instance of a work in sculpture of a low or vulgar school that is suffered to have a place in any collection. Yet how are those who are desirous to understand Art to be taught this if no means are afforded for their learning it? Again, then, the want of education in what is true and good in Art is apparent, for here, especially, the better influence of a cultivated taste in the public might have good effect. It would be a great mistake to suppose that this knowledge may not be imparted. It is not intuitive, but is to be acquired. In Greece the national habits educated the people to a sense of the beautiful. In Italy, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries especially, the influence of the higher classes interested the populations in works of Art, and thus their education was practically advanced; and without denying the existence of a more keen sensibility to the beautiful, and more acute observation, in some persons, and even nations, compared with others, it may fairly be assumed that all may in different degrees be improved in their power of appreciating the good wherever it is to be found. Probably all present are acquainted with that charming work on Italy, Corinne,' and may remember the chapters in which the works of Art in Rome are described. The value of the knowledge referred to is fully exhibited here. And yet this was the result of education, of its kind. Madame de Stael had been intimate with Schlegel, and she improved her own natural faculties by acquiring from him the power to view Art through an elevated, and, it may be said, a true and proper medium. In judging a work of Art the first thing to be considered is the intention or purpose of the design, and whether the meaning is clearly expressed. Secondly, it must be tested by the degree of refinement it exhibits; in the choice and character of its subject, and by the mode of presentation adopted by the artist; and here the quality of his taste and mind will be at once seen. Thirdly, the forms should command attention, not only in the human and other figures, but in drapery and all the accessories. Normal beauty should be recognized as essential to all fine Art, and even in the less ambitious subjects there should be a careful avoidance of ugly or repulsive forms. So the Greeks felt, and in this, though we may no longer sympathize with their subjects, their productions still are and ever will be a standard. It was this radical principle that enabled them, or rather obliged them, to make beauty an element in all their productions. It was seen not only in their nobler works, but it spread over and down to the commonest objects: their furniture, vases, tazze, earrings, necklaces, &c. So it was also in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when the works of the great Italian masters influenced the taste in small things, as is seen in the beautiful performances of Benvenuto Cellini and other artists of the time; and more modern examples might easily be found. This is one of the material consequences of a cultivated taste in Art, -and by no means an unimportant one. The commonplace, and, it must be admitted, pleasing theory of the necessarily refining influence of the Arts, needs scarcely to be noticed here. No doubt the proper office of Art, and of all exercises of human intelligence, should be to refine and elevate; but Art does not effect this, of necessity. Experience has shown that, though it may be employed for the noblest objects, it may also be used as an easy means of corruption, and that the existence of a very refined taste in Art is no security for a high moral condition of society. It is in its use or its abuse that its worth is tried. The social state of Italy in the reigns of Alexander VI, of Julius II., of Leo X., and other Popes were, according to their own native historians, characterized by the prevalence of the most shocking demoralization and profligacy, at the very time that Leonardo, M. Angelo, Francesco Francia, and Raffaelle were producing their master-pieces in painting and sculpture; and France in the reigns of Louis XIV. and Louis XV. was as remarkable for the general corruption of morals pervading all classes, as for the glory derived from her triumphs in literature and art. Here, then, is another reason for endeavouring to show the public how so fascinating an appendage or accessory of civilization may be turned to good instead of to evil. How it may be made an instrument of moral refinement and instruction, as well as a source of pleasure. In conclusion, the value of Art-education would be felt in the great increase of enjoyment people would have in Art. It would teach them how to observe, and it would quicken their intelligence in seizing and appreciating Nature in her true and proper aspect. Its effects would be seen also on the public Taste. The want of it has, there can be no doubt, a lowering influence both on Art and artists; for where the knowledge and feeling of the public is wanting in tone, the artists are not likely to rise above the standard of those from whom they look for employment. An intelligent public would raise the standard. Another very important benefit might be expected from thus qualifying the public to judge correctly of Art. It would go far to put a stop to the pretentious dictation that prevails in matters of Art, where self-elected and incompetent critics make themselves the dispensers of not only fame but employment. Competition, sound in principle, has lost all its value, from the feeling that exists among the comparatively better class of artists that it is a delusion. Few or none of any position will now submit to be judged by such judges as, ordinarily, compose these competition committees, where, in addition to the possible danger of inadequate qualification in its members, a well-organized party may have arranged beforehand whose design shall have the preference, quite irrespectively of its comparative merit. Nothing would be so calculated to remedy some of the evils here complained of as the improvement of the public intelligence in the requirements and principles of true Art; and in all competitions it might be an advantage to have the advice and assistance of professional, but disinterested men, upon technical questions. The consequences of the absence of such securities for a better class and treatment of public works are sufficiently obvious, without the necessity of more particular reference. [R. W.] WEEKLY EVENING MEETING, Friday, March 31, 1865. SIR HENRY HOLLAND, Bart. M.D. D.C.L. F.R.S. Vice-President, in the Chair. JAMES GLAISHER, Esq. F.R.S. &c. On Scientific Experiments in Balloons. MR. GLAISHER, at the beginning, referred to the discourse given by him two years since, when he had made eight ascents, for the purpose of scientific researches, in the higher regions of the atmosphere, and said since that time he had made seventeen additional. He described the process of filling a large balloon, and briefly described a balloon ascent, speaking of the novel sensation at first experienced, of the extreme coldness and dryness of the air at great elevations; of the painless death awaiting the aërial traveller who should ascend to an elevation too great for his power of endurance, and compared it to that of the mountain traveller, who, benumbed and insensible to suffering, yields to the lethargy of approaching sleep, and reposes to wake no more. Moral energy in both cases, he stated, was the only means of safety. He then exhibited the several instruments used, pointing out their extreme sensitiveness and delicacy, and then spoke of the primary objects of balloon research. Subjects of Research by means of Balloons. 1st. To determine the rate of decrease of temperature, with increase of elevation; and to ascertain whether the results obtained by obser vations on mountain sides-viz. a lowering of temperature of 1° for every increase of elevation of 300 feet-be true or not. 2nd. To determine the distribution of the water, in the invisible shape of vapour, in the air below the clouds, in the clouds, and above them, at different elevations. 3rd. To compare the results, as found by different instruments, together: 1. The temperature of the Dew Point, as found by Dry and Wet Thermometers-(Free). Dry and Wet Thermometers-(Aspirated, or air made to pass rapidly). Regnault's Dew Point-(Blowing). Regnault's Dew Point--(Air made to pass rapidly). 2. To compare the readings of Mercurial and Aneroid Barometers, &c. 4th. Solar radiation, by taking readings of the blackened bulb thermometer fully exposed to the sun, with simultaneous observations of the dry bulb thermometer, and also of observations of Herschel's Actinometer. 5th. To determine whether the Solar spectrum, when viewed from the earth, and far above it, exhibited any difference; whether there were a greater or less number of dark lines crossing it, particularly when near sun-setting. 6th. To determine whether the horizontal intensity of the earth's magnetism was less or greater with elevation. Propagation of sound. In every ascent a second or third thermometer, differently graduated, has been used to check the accuracy of the readings of the dry thermometer, and the truthfulness of the temperature shown by it. In some of the ascents a delicate blackened bulb thermometer was placed near to the place of the dry-bulb thermometer, fully exposed to the sun in cloudless skies, or to the sky at all times-the readings of this instrument were nearly identical with those of the dry-bulb thermometer in clouded states of the sky, and thus acted as an additional check. At all times, one or the other, or both, Regnault's and Daniell's hygrometers, have been used sufficiently often at all heights, to show whether the wet-bulb thermometer was in proper action, and to check the results given by the use of the dry- and wet-bulb thermometer on the reduction of the observations. The author said he would not give a detailed account of the experiments in the year 1862 and 1863, as they were published, but would confine himself to some of the results. He said it was soon found that the state of the sky exercised a great influence, and the experiments had to be repeated with two groups, one with cloudy skies, and the other with clear skies. 1,000 2,000 99 The results are as follow : - The Decline of the Temperature of the Air, with Elevation, when the Sky was Cloudy. Feet. Deg. Feet. 0 to 1,000 was 4.5 from 17 experiments, or 1 degree in 223 3,000 4,000 These results show, when the sky is cloudy, the decline of temperature at every 1,000 feet increase of elevation. Up to 5,000 feet the number of experiments upon which each result is based vary from 13 to 22; at 6,000 and 7,000 feet to 7 and 5 respectively; from 7,000 to 16,000 feet to 4; these having been made on two days, viz. 1863, June 26 and September 29, on which days the balloon was frequently enveloped in fog and clouds to the height of three and four miles, and those above 16,000 feet on the former of these two days only, during the ascent and descent, the sky being still covered with cloud when the balloon was between four and 5 miles high. The Decline of the Temperature of the Air, with Elevation, when the Sky was Clear, or chiefly clear. |