but he merely endeavoured to represent the margin existing between the export and import trades of the country. According to Mr. Rosenbaum, he had fallen into the grievous error of taking the Sauerbeck food prices. He was quite aware that the Board of Trade gave index numbers as to prices, but he was under the impression that all the Sauerbeck food prices were themselves weighted*, and he had never before heard them criticised. With the permission of the Council, he would draw a fresh curve, shewing the difference between the co-efficient of food profit as computed by the profit margin divided by the Sauerbeck figures, and the same profit margin divided by the Board of Trade figures, which he was informed he ought to have used. He had already pointed out in his paper that iron ores differed very widely in their value and in their constituents, he had also given figures showing not only the production, but the imports of the different countries. In conclusion, he thanked Mr. Nordenfelt for his kindly appreciation of his (the speaker's) plea for further statistics. It was only when we had the statistics of the internal trade of the country that we could accurately judge our position. The collection of detailed statistics of our internal trade might be looked upon as a third dimension in our consideration of the fiscal question. So long as our computations were based solely on exports and imports, our conclusions being only the product of two dimensions would naturally be superficial. Until we had the third, the total value of our commerce and the relation of our export and import trade to it would remain unknown, and would be the occasion of dragging up many scores of bogies-bogies perhaps which might be mere clouds on the horizon, which the rising sun of a cycle of prosperity would dispel. Until we had com. plete returns he feared that so far as judging our national prosperity was concerned, the Board of Trade statistics of import and export trades alone would only lead to the announcement of many false hypotheses. The CHAIRMAN, in thanking Mr. Digby for his paper, said he was sorry that he had not said something about the production of pig iron. A great deal of pig iron was imported into this country. If the British iron-masters preferred to import pig iron instead of the raw material, surely they were the most capable of judging which was the cheaper and better plan. Although so many aspects had been touched upon, the personal element had not been mentioned. There were people in every industry who would go to a business, and in six months would turn a profit ⚫On the publication of the Board of Trade index numbers last year, Mr. Sauerbeck dealt with the relative question of weighting in the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society (p. 617 [1903]). He states: "As a matter of fact all my numbers from 1867 have also been weighted according to the total quantity available in the United Kingdom (not the net consumption only) and according to various systems, but it was only intended to check the results.....” bearing business into a losing concern, and there were others who would do just the opposite. The personal factor had a great deal to do with the prosperity or otherwise of any industry. He really did not see how it was possible to have accurate figures with regard to the internal trade. How often were they to count say a hundredweight of nails, for instance ? The manufacturer sold them to the wholesale man, the wholesale man sold to a retailer, the retailer sold to a small man, and so on. Were they to multiply the value of that five times in order to get at the internal trade, or would they simply count the manufactured article, and not take the trading into account at all? It might form a very good amusement for the Statistical Society to take those detailed figures, to add them up, and multiply them and then have a discussion on them, but he did not think it would contribute much to the solution of the fiscal question. Correspondence. POPULAR MOTOR CARS. Mr. Mervyn O'Gorman writes that he is anxious to thank the motor car companies who kindly supplied him with tests of their engines. He acknowledged their help when reading, but his remarks do not appear in the printed text. He wishes, therefore, to add the following paragraph :— "I must not fail to publicly thank the Wolsely Motor Car Company, the Ariel Motor Car Company, and the Humber Company for the tests they kindly gave me showing the rise and fall of horse-power of their engines with increasing speed." General Notes. CAOUTCHOUC IN GUINEA.-India-rubber was exported last year from the French colony of Guinea to the amount of 1,467 tons, representing a value of more than 14,500,000 fr. (580,coo). Only half this sum was realised in 1900 with nearly the same quantity; and the increase in value is explained by the improved quality due to more careful collection and preparation. These figures are given by M. Famechon, director of customs at Conakry, in a communication which mentions the following circumstances that favour the indiarubber industry in Guinea:-1. Half the vegetation in some districts of great extent in Fouta-Djalom consists of indiarubber plants, only ten per cent. of which have been tapped. 2. The bleeding of a plant, no matter to what extent, does not kill it. 3. While vegetation generally is arrested by bush fires, caoutchouc plants for the most part survive owing to the moisture they contain. RUSSIAN PUMICE STONE.-The Russian Government has recently announced that pumice stone has been found within less than two feet and a-half of the surface in the village of Malaya Kutmâ, about four miles from Kars. The pumice lies in horizontal strata, which are two and a-half feet thick. It is very porous and fragile, and is found partly in lumps and partly in triturated, earthy heaps, which contain pieces of spongy pumice of various sizes. Owing to its great fragility it is easily crumbled. Pumice is exported from Kars in two varieties, viz., pure, in lumps, and triturated, combined with other foreign matter. pumice, which is valued in proportion to the size of the lumps, is used for polishing metals, lumber, leather, ivory, &c., as well as for preparing a sort of soap, known as "pumice soap." The scattered pumice is used for preparing hydraulic cement. There is stated to be a project on foot to export the pumice by rail from Kars to the port of Poti, and thence ship it to Odessa. The pure MEETINGS OF THE SOCIETY. ORDINARY MEETINGS. Wednesday Evenings, at 8 o'clock: MAY 11.-"Early Painting in Miniature." By RICHARD R. HOLMES, C.V.O. SIR WILLIAM ABNEY, K.C.B., F.R.S., Chairman of Council, will preside. INDIAN SECTION. Afternoons, at 4.30 o'clock : THURSDAY, MAY 12. "British-Grown Tea." By A. G. STANTON. The Right Hon. LORD GEORGE HAMILTON, G.C.S.I., M.P., will preside. TUESDAY, MAY 31.-" The Economic and Industrial Progress and Condition of India." By J. E. O'CONOR, C.I.E., late Director-General of Statistics, India. APPLIED ART SECTION. Tuesday evenings, 8 o'clock :— MAY 10.-"Crystalline Glazes and their Application to the Decoration of Pottery." By WILLIAM BURTON. HENRY H. S. CUNYNGHAME, C.B., will preside. MAY 17.-" Pewter and the Revival of its Use." By LASENBY LIBERTY. SIR GEORGE BIRDWOOD, K.C.I.E., C.S.I., will preside. CANTOR LECTURES. Monday afternoon at 4.30 o'clock : PROF. R. LANGTON DOUGLAS, M.A., "The Majolica and Glazed Earthenware of Tuscany." Three Lectures. LECTURE III.-MAY 9.-The Majolica of Montelupo and Cafaggiolo.-Montelupo an early seat of the manufacture of glazed wares-Its connection with Siena-Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici-The Fattorini and the Medici-Cafaggiolo-The history of the villa-Characteristics of the work of the Fattorini-The smaller fabbriche of Tuscany-The later history of majolica in Tuscany. MEETINGS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. Camera Club, Charing-cross-road, W.C., 8 p.m. Victoria Institute, 8, Adelphi- terrace, W.C., 41 p.m. Prof. Edward Hull, "The Thickness of the Ice in the former Glacier of the Lucerne Valley." TUESDAY, MAY 10...SOCIETY OF ARTS, John-street, Adelphi, W.C., 8 p.m. (Applied Art Section.) Mr. William Burton, "Crystalline Glazes and their application to the Decoration of Pottery." Asiatic, 22, Albemarle-street, W., 3 p.m. Annual Meeting. Royal Institution, Albemarle-street, W., 5 p.m. Mr. L. Fletcher," Meteorites." (Lecture II.) Medical and Chirurgical, 20, Hanover-sq., W., 8 p.m. Photographic, 66, Russell-square, W.C., 8 p.m. Mr. Howard Farmer, "Progress in Enlarging." Anthropological, 3, Hanover-square, W., 8 p.m. Colonial, Whitehall-rooms, Whitehall-place, S. W., 8 p.m. Lady Lugard, "West African Negroland." WEDNESDAY, MAY 11...SOCIETY OF ARTS, John-street, Adelphi, W.C., 8 p.m. Mr. Richard R. Holmes, "Early Painting in Miniature." Biblical Archæology, 37, Great Russell-street, 4 p.m. Geographical, Burlington house, W., 8 p.m. Dante, 22, Albemarle street, W., 8 p.m. Rev. THURSDAY, MAY 12...SOCIETY OF ARTS, John-street, Electrical Engineers (at the HOUSE OF THE SOCIETY Mathematical, 22, Albemarle-street, W., 5 p.m. FRIDAY, MAY 13...Royal Institution, Albemarle-street, W.. 9 p.m. Mr. M. H. Spielmann, "The Queen Victoria Memorial." Astronomical, Burlington-house, W., 5 p.m. Physical, Royal College of Science, South Kensington, S.W., 8 p.m. SATURDAY, MAY 14...Botanic, Inner Circle, Regent's-park, Royal Institution, Albemarle-street, W., 3 p.m. that eminent painter was associated with an institution which had been singularly cold to decorative art. But Mr. Alfred East had given many and distinguished examples in his work of his appreciation of such essential decorative qualities in art as scheme and key of colour, relation of line and mass, and, above all, composition. Hence what he had to say could not fail to be of deep interest. The paper read was THE SENTIMENT OF DECORATION. BY ALFRED EAST, A.R.A. In dealing with the question of sentiment in decoration, we are brought face to face with the difficulties of definition; even the word Art, instead of being general like Truth and Beauty, is but limited, for when we have to speak of decoration we use the term "applied art" in contradistinction to "fine art," as if there was no quality of decoration in fine art or no fine art expressed in decoration. Again we divide fine art into the sections of painting, sculpture and architecture, and we may divide the decorative arts also. We can take the case in which decoration supports the structural idea, or the other case where the decoration is itself the sole purpose of display. Articles of use come under the former class, where the application of ornament actually assists the structural purpose. In the latter case the ornament superimposed being simply intended to decorate, serves no other purpose but adornment. Wallpapers and textiles, would come under this second classification. Amongst the multitude of expressed opinion let us endeavour to find some bases of criticism, some means of testing the value of good decoration, by which we can discriminate between what is good and bad, and in what measure sentiment enters, and its justification. Let me point out, in the first place, that where there is an implied service there must be an implied government; and, as decorative art is, in one sense, a subsidiary art, we must see whether it fulfils its purpose of service, and decide when the application of ornament is a gain, and when it is a drawback, for let us never forget that the mere application of ornament is not decoration. This fact cannot be too strongly insisted upon, it is the application of ornament that best suits the purpose that is good decoration, the ornament that not only decorates the article, but supports the sentiment of its use. We might go further, I think, and say that the ornament which expresses the true structure as well as the sentiment of structure, and SO furthers the better adaptability of the object for the purpose for which it was made, is good. That is the test of the application of decoration to useful things. I shall have more to say on the question of sentiment later, but I would point out that this basis of criticism will not serve us in judging designs for wallpapers and textiles. where the purposes of decoration, qua decoration, is simply to enrich, and has no structural purpose to support. In this case the designer has a freer hand, as he is not trammelled by the sentiment of construction. There may, however, be a danger in this freedom, for if the designer places upon a rich material any pattern that would disguise the beauty of his material, then it is bad; but if on the other hand he enhances the beauty of that material, it is good. This is the same principle as that the application of ornament must be for the improvement of purpose; in other words, it should support the character of the article upon which it is displayed. It is doubted by some whether the designer has a right by the application of ornament to disguise the character of the material; it may be contended that in the enrichment produced he has that right. If this be admitted, it opens the question that the designer has the right to deceive, that the material may be taken for something different from what it actually is; the other view is the one that joins issue with that I have already propounded, viz., that the application of ornament should support the character of the material upon which it is applied. We may leave this vexed question with the remark that if the material be itself rich, then there can be no object in disguising its identity, but if, on the contrary, it be poor, the decorator has reason for consideration if by his skill his pattern claims your attention before his material. Mean things can be made beautiful by the magic touch of the decorator, and in the higher expression of his art. This is an additional interest, inasmuch as the artist embodies within his designs an expression of his own individual appreciation of beauty, an expression of sentiment, but so governed and restrained, that it is made to serve the purpose he has in view. We see certain designs by eminent designers of our day, and we say this is by one, and that is by another. Why do we know this? Because we understand by their previous work the method by which these artists use nature, and select from her what they require for their purpose. Let us be careful, when we see any original design, to consider its claims upon its own merits before venturing to express an opinion, lest posterity call us fools. Of course it is easy to express an opinion when we have a recognised standard before us, but when new conditions arise, which call forth new expressions, we must consider the questions afresh, taking into consideration those new conditions, for it would be obviously unfair to criticise from any previously accepted standard, when the conditions are not the same. Let us remember on the other hand, that the best art of the past has become the convention of today and in like manner the best modern work will form the convention of the future. Let us never condemn any art because it is new. We may respect the good work of the past, and honour the craftsmen who produced it, but at the same time we should have the same selfreliance, since we have inherited their responsibilities, for I believe we are as capable of sustaining our responsibilities as they were of sustaining theirs. That is the spirit in which we all should work. For the sake of showing the evolution of the idea of sentiment in decoration we may look for a while at the causes which led to its wider expression. Thus through the Classic, to the Naturalistic, and so on to the Emotional. I mean by the emotional that quality which expresses sentiment. The basis of the classic form, for the sake of illustration may be said to rest upon the desire to obtain symmetry by the equal division of spaces, thus a typical frieze received a pattern distributed with mathematical justness of distances; it was only when artists introduced the literary idea that they departed from this scientific expression. This may have arisen from a highly cultivated intellectuality, a culture whose attitude towards life was the desire of a perfect balance, a system in which no expression of sentiment or expression of the emotions found a place; but which united the ideals of life set up by the designers and their attitude towards art. Such an attitude, however, was dangerously near becoming the expression of a mere scientific formula. It was like a sum that was proved; it was finished, and nothing more could be said, as it leaves us uninterested and cold. From this Hellenic idea of the perfect justness and balance which is so predominant in the work of the Greeks, there arose in the Græco-Roman period a softer feeling, a more human touch, which long afterwards culminated in the decadence of the purely classic idea. In its place was developed an order of decoration founded upon the actual forms and colours of nature. The early Italians no doubt being influenced by many different conditions of life from those which had governed the thoughts of their forefathers of Pagan times, and coming into contact with a religion in which the human interest was the dominant note, they would naturally be inclined to express in their decoration, as they did in their fine art, those feelings which were engendered by the Christian idea. Christianity was a real thing to them, and their pictures served to illustrate the facts of the lives of its founders, therefore it was but natural that these decorations should express real things. This feeling was no doubt enhanced by their love of colour. The sumptuous pigment of their pictures found a place in their decoration. The introduction of this frank materialism may be a protest against the cold formality of the classic school, in which, instead of a methodical distribution of pattern, we get the festoons of fruit and flowers, &c., realised with all the imitative faculty of which the artists were capable. It is to the evil example, I think, of this work which is to be found in some of the old palaces of Italy, certainly in the galleries of the Vatican, that the degraded decoration of the modern Italian house can be traced. It seems to have been a protest against the cold formalism of a previous order, a rebound from former lifelessness. Be that as it may, it was one of the interesting phases preceding a later development, which was to come through a wider outlook and increased freedom; probably the Reformation and later the French Revolution had much to do with this. Men began to think more for themselves in religion and politics, and why not in art; it broadened their power for the inception of new ideas, and had the result of preparing the way for the dawn of that quality which marks the art of to-day. Not only is fine art affected by it, but its influence is felt in the decorative arts. No doubt this freedom brought with it evil as well as good, and whatever were the evil consequences of the overthrow of all accepted traditions in the past, there arose from amongst the banalities of decorative art of our time the beautiful flower of a truer expression of what was the personal character of the man. It may be an open question whether we are sufficiently educated to enjoy this full freedom, and to be entrusted with this greater responsibility. We know that many, in their freedom, not only throw over the formalism of the past, but unfortunately discard its principles as well. The consequence is, that more bad things are done than were possible under the restraining influence of the classic school. If the craftsman could invent nothing in the earlier days, he had at least authorities which every one expected, to copy from, and could thus be saved from complete failure. But how different is the designer of to-day; he is expected if he has anything to do or say, to have the courage of his own opinion. His field of work had become vastly wider. Altered conditions of life, increase of wealth, love of change, were some of the new conditions imposed upon him, and although it gave the opportunity for the impostor, it also gave a freer field to the qualified man. All are displayed before the public, and it places upon the public a responsibility of choice. What are they to do? In the old days they could have appealed to accomplished facts and to tradition. They could see that, inasmuch as the thing produced conformed to these traditions, it was good, while inasmuch as it did not do so, it was bad; but where are the standards for the poor man in the street," now? For the craftsman himself, having lost the steadying influence of past experience, constantly shifted his ground -sometimes to this side, and sometimes to that. The weak man either hung upon the old forms, or timidly imitated the new. A leader might arise, and, immediately after his recognition, a crowd of followers who had not force of character to do anything of their own, would present a diluted representation of the stronger man's work. But we have at last felt our feet, and have regained a confidence that has impressed itself upon the work of to-day. At no time in the history of decorative or fine art has this confident personal factor been so dominantly expressed; no doubt it is the result of many influences, but these influences coming into contact with open minds made an impression, which was to bear fruit in a different form from that which governed the older school. The material was ripe for these impressions, and amongst the varied influences, was one of the first importance, and that was the personal or individual expression of the artist's opinion, an opinion which was engendered by his own surroundings. Perhaps |
