could he but see to draw. Were vision the first sense
consulted, and were the simplest visual appearance sought after, one
might expect something like diagram B, the shadows under eyes, nose,
mouth, and chin, with the darker mass of the hair being the simplest
thing the visual appearance can be reduced to. But despite this being
quite as easy to do, it does not appeal to the ordinary child as the
other type does, because it does not satisfy the sense of touch that
forms so large a part of the idea of an object in the mind. All
architectural elevations and geometrical projections generally appeal to
this mental idea of form. They consist of views of a building or object
that could never possibly be seen by anybody, assuming as they do that
the eye of the spectator is exactly in front of every part of the
building at the same time, a physical impossibility. And yet so removed
from the actual visual appearance is our mental idea of objects that
such drawings do convey a very accurate idea of a building or object.
And of course they have great advantage as working drawings in that they
can be scaled.

[Illustration: Diagram I.

A. TYPE OF FIRST DRAWING MADE BY CHILDREN, SHOWING HOW VISION HAS NOT
BEEN CONSULTED

B. TYPE OF WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN EXPECTED IF CRUDEST EXPRESSION OF VISUAL
APPEARANCE HAD BEEN ATTEMPTED]

If so early the sense of vision is neglected and relegated to be the
handmaiden of other senses, it is no wonder that in the average adult it
is in such a shocking state of neglect. I feel convinced that with the
great majority of people vision is seldom if ever consulted for itself,
but only to minister to some other sense. They look at the sky to see if
it is going to be fine; at the fields to see if they are dry enough to
walk on, or whether there will be a good crop of hay; at the stream not
to observe the beauty of the reflections from the blue sky or green
fields dancing upon its surface or the rich colouring of its shadowed
depths, but to calculate how deep it is or how much power it would
supply to work a mill, how many fish it contains, or some other
association alien to its visual aspect. If one looks up at a fine mass
of cumulus clouds above a London street, the ordinary passer-by who
follows one's gaze expects to see a balloon or a flying-machine at
least, and when he sees it is only clouds he is apt to wonder what one
is gazing at. The beautiful form and colour of the cloud seem to be
unobserve