AMERICAN PREFACE. 
xlvii 
A carefully prepared text is thus insisted upon, because it is seen 
that at the foundation of all art there lies a great body of facts 
and principles, whicli can be described in language, and must be so 
described in Order that they may be learned. If this verbal de- 
seription is possible at all, — and no one will deny it, tlien it is 
possible to be made in printed language whicli will crystallize the 
Statement of facts and principles for universal and perpetual use. 
Whenever the learner fails to comprehend the text, or special 
circumstances require that more should be said, tlien the text 
must be supplemented by oral explanation trom the teachei. A 
good text and a good teacher are much better than either alone. 
Those who look upon art as a mere matter of feeling, who do not 
acknowledge such a thing as Art-science, will, of course, see no 
use in such a text as described, though they would applaud a 
printed rhapsody on art that was calculated to produce a tumult 
of indeflnable feeling in the bosom of the learner. Teachers are 
another essential thing, and they must be numerous enough to do 
the great work required. What should be tlieir qualifications ? 
First, they should possess general teaching ability; second, a 
knowledge of the teachable elements of art. Hence artists as 
artists are not required; of course there can be no objection to 
them, provided they also know how to teach. If they lack the 
teacher’s gift, they will inevitably fail. Whoever, therefore, can 
learn teachable things, and having learned can impart tlieir knowl 
edge to others, are the ones to give instruction in art. The more, 
indeed, they know beyond what they are required to teach, the* 
better. Hence, to disseminate an elementary knowledge of art 
among the whole people, the instruction must be given by the 
regulär teachers in the public scbools. To say, as some do, that 
we can have no good instruction in art until we have great artists 
for teachers, is the same as to say we can have no good instruc 
tion in arithmetic, in grammar, and reading, until we have the 
' pupils in our public schools taught by great mathematicians, great 
poets, great orators. There are probably thousands of primary 
teachers in this country who can teach the elements of drawing 
better than could Raphael, just as Sherman probably had hun- 
dreds of sergeants in bis army who could drill a Company better 
than himself. Give the regulär teachers in the public schools the