the
artist; many, for instance Hogarth and some Japanese, seem to have let
their quirks, full stops and so on, get the upper hand at the expense of
serious, sensitive draughtsmanship.

It is fair to suppose that all abstract principles of aesthetic
judgment, such as beauty of line, personality, style, nobility of
thought, romanticism, are merely pretexts set up by people who would
still affect to admire the drawings of recognized masters when they have
neither the knowledge of, nor the care for, the forms of nature by
virtue of which alone these drawings are what they are, and by which
alone they can be immediately appreciated. (J. R. FO.)

_Drawing-Office Work._--In modern engineering, few pieces of mechanism
are ever produced in the shops until their design has been settled in
the "drawing office," and embodied in suitable drawings showing general
and detailed views. This is a broad statement to which there are
exceptions, to be noted presently.

Drawing-office work is divisible into four principal groups. First,
there is the actual designing, by far the most difficult work, which is
confined to relatively few well-paid men. The qualifications necessary
for it are a good scientific, mathematical and engineering training, and
a specialized experience gathered in the particular class of mechanism
to which the designing relates. Second, there is the work of the rank
and file who take instructions from the chiefs, and elaborate the
smaller details and complete the drawings. Third, there are the tracers,
either youths or girls, who copy drawings on tracing paper without
necessarily understanding them. Fourth, there is a printing department
in which phototypes are produced on sensitized paper from tracings.

The character of the drawings used includes the general drawings, or
those which show a mechanism complete; and the detailed drawings, which
illustrate portions isolated from their connexions and relationships.
The first are retained in the office for reference, and copies are only
sent out to the men who have to assemble or erect and complete
mechanisms. The second are distributed to the several shops and
departments where sectional portions are being prepared, as pattern
shop, smithy, turnery, machine shop, &c. General drawings are, as a
rule, drawn to a small scale, ranging say from 1/8 in. to 1 in. to the
foot; but details are either to actual size, or to a large scale, as
from 1-1/2 in. to the foot or 3 in