Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, December 1899: Vol. LVI, November, 1899 to April, 1900Various
Science
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, December 1899: Vol. LVI, November, 1899 to April, 1900
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
In enterprise and originality the journalism of America leads the
world at the end of the nineteenth century. As a profession, it
commands, with alluring prospects of fame and fortune, the services of
men of genius and learning. Those who enter it from choice succeed or
fail quickly. It is a life of activity, a work where energy and
intelligence are essential qualifications, and honor and honesty are
certain of reward. There is no enduring place in the profession for
hypocrisy, indolence, or mediocrity.
VALUE OF THE STUDY OF ART.
BY GEORGES PERROT.
Georges Perrot is one of the leading art writers and teachers of
France. Born in 1832, not far from Paris, he was graduated from
the École Normale about 1855, and was then for three years at the
French School at Athens. From his return to the present day he
has occupied, with honor and distinction, many positions in the
world of letters. At present he is a member of the Institut, an
officer of the Légion d'Honneur, a professor à la Faculté des
Lettres de Paris, and the director of the École Normale
Supérieure. He is best known to scholars outside of France by the
magnificent work on the History of Art in Antiquity, which he is
writing, assisted by Charles Chipiez, architecte du gouvernement,
and of which seven superb quartos have already appeared.
(Hachette et Cie.) In 1891, by a decree of the Minister of Public
Instruction, the study of the history of the fine arts was
introduced into a section of the studies pursued at the lycées.
In an article in the Revue des Deux Mondes, July 15, 1899, Perrot
pleads for an increase of the time assigned to the study and for
its introduction into other parts of the curriculum.
I have translated those pages of the article which are of general
interest as a contribution to a subject which is deservedly
attracting the attention of American institutions of learning.
D. CADY EATON.
Written and spoken language, the language of which the signs are
words, is not the only language which man uses to convey his ideas.
There is also the language of forms, which, with no less clearness and
force, conveys the conceptions of the intellect and the sentiments of
the heart. We study the history and the literature of bygone people
for the purpose of acquiring a better knowledge of ourselves, and this
knowledge is secured by becoming conscious of the different states of
mind, to use a modern expression, through which our ancestors have
passed. Even the most elementary and the most remote of these
successive conditions are, unconsciously perhaps, represented in the
depths of our being by beliefs and customs for which the present order
and progress of civilization can not account.[16]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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