ne and delineations of form. It is emphatically and
abundantly illustrated in natural forms, from the scallop shell upon the
sea-shore to the sun himself that radiates his light upon it. The
palm-leaf in all its graceful varieties demonstrates its beauty, its
constructive strength combined with extraordinary lightness, which
becomes domesticated in that fragile sceptre of social influence and
festivity, the fan, and which again spreads its silken, or gossamer,
wing as a suggestive field for the designer. We find the principle
springing to life again in the fountain jet, and symbolical of life as
it has ever been; by means of the same principle applied to construction
the Gothic architects raised their beautiful vaults, and emphasized the
structural principle and the beauty of recurring line by moulding the
edges of their ribs; while we have but to look at the structure of the
human frame to find the same principle there also, in the fibres of the
muscles, for instance, the radiation of the ribs, and of the fingers and
toes.

[Illustration (f033): Radiating Principle of Line in Natural Form.]

In truth, as I have said, if there can be said to be one principle more
than another, the perception and expression of which gives to an
artist's work in design peculiar vitality, it is this principle of
radiating line. One may follow it through all stages and forms of
drawing and design, and it is equally important in the design of the
figure, in the structure of a flower, in the folds of drapery, and alike
in the controlling lines of pictorial composition and decorative plan,
whether the lines radiate from seen or from hidden centres, which in all
kinds of informal design are perhaps the most important.

[Illustration (f034): Radiating Lines of the Pectoral Muscles & Ribs]

[Range and Use of Line]

We see, therefore, that line possesses a constructive and controlling
function, in addition to its power of graphic expression and decorative
definition. It is the beginning and the end of art. By means of its
help we guide our first tottering steps in the wide world of design;
and, as we gain facility of hand and travel further afield, we discover
that we have a key to unlock the wonders of art and nature, a method of
conjuring up all forms at will: a sensitive language capable of
recording and revealing impressions and beauties of form and structure
hidden from the careless eye: