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BH 
 

 THE ART 
 
 OBSERVING. 
 
 04 FRAGMENT.) 
 
 1777. 
 
 TRANSLATED 
 
 ALEXANDER KIRKWOOD. 
 
 TORONTO: 
 
 WARWICK BROS' & RUTTER. 
 
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THE ART 
 
 or 
 
 OBSERVING 
 
 iA FRAGMENT.^ 
 
 } 
 
 1777. 
 
 TRANSLATED 
 
 \LEXANDER KIRKWOOD. 
 
 
 
 TORONTO: 
 WARWICK BROS' & RUTTER. 
 leoo 
 
THE ART OF OBSHIIVINO. 
 
 (A FRAGMKNT.) 
 
 By Bk.njamin Carraru. 
 
 \ i i t . 
 
 Vita Brevis, iirs vero loiiga, 
 Kt occasio mngni nionietiti, 
 
 Aphorism, Hip. 
 
 Tj observe, is in general to be attentive to everything that strikits the 
 senses, whetlier interior or exterior, so as to acfjuire just and proper ideas to 
 lead to the diHerent ends in view. The internal senses inform us of what passes 
 in our minds. The external senses lead us to the knowledge of the objects that 
 exist outside of us and come within the sphere of their action, as our own bodies, 
 so to >ipeak, the celestial bodies, the atmosphere and the meteors formed therein, 
 the entire globe of the earth, the seas, the rivers, the minerals, and particularly 
 among these, men, the societies they form, and what thty do in them. 
 
 We will always suppose there is no imperfect organic conform<ition in the 
 observer, and that he is certain in his examination, if the testimony of the 
 se :.-(es he uses accords with that of his other senses, or with that of other per- 
 sioris respecting the same object. 
 
 The art of observing contributes largely to bring to perfection all the arts 
 which imply ta.ste, the sense of the beautiful, and a just discei'nment of every- 
 thing that can agreeably affect mankind. It is, in fact, the contemplation of 
 nature that furnishes the first idea of beauty. She exhibits, more or less, in 
 different individuals an impartial variety, uniformity, and proportion which con- 
 stitute the charm of beauty ; and although the physical beauty perceived about 
 every grand genius that has appeared in all races, has given birth to excellent 
 models that seem to be sufficient to lead the mind to the idea of the beautiful, 
 without hereafter having recourse to the observation of nature, nevertheless, 
 genius will always be victorious in reuniting the two roads, the masterpieces of 
 art and nature, to bring forth works of genius. By profound and reflex obser- 
 vations it learns to get together harmoniously, both the fine strokes that are 
 seized, and those which might have escaped Having thus become the severe 
 judge, it will be incessantly stimulated tO retouch its labors to carry them to a 
 still higher point of perfection. Br.l to expose what has been said in broad day- 
 light, we will enter into some details. 
 
 [8] 
 
THE ART or OBSEUVINO. 
 
 By filling the soul with exact obfiervations of the beauties of nature, the 
 poet and orator bring together a rich fund of just and true ideas, grand pictures, 
 pleasing and touching images which, without presenting exaggenited proportions 
 to injure precision, pic. '''^ the mind so strongly brought to seize resemblances, 
 make their marcli quicker and mon; rapid, unite solidity with gracefulness, and 
 paint with a passion that communicates itself to others, the warmth with which 
 they are >'.nimated. For what one sensibly feels is in like manner expressed, and 
 this facility of expression ia still more increased by the attention which the art '>£ 
 observing bestows upon the great models, to form ditlerent kinds of style, make 
 them simple, elegant, touching, strong or nervous as circiuiistan('<>.s and the end 
 in view demand. 
 
 The varied spectacle of the |»lay of hu 'an passion oflors, moreover, power- 
 ful springs to eloquence to insinuate itself agreeably in the minds of men By 
 interesting their passions in favoi' of what she desires to exact from them, she 
 moves and leads them at her will, bej^uiles them, so to speak, by presenting au 
 object to their view, which by attracting then), at the same time lui'is them to 
 her side. 
 
 This study of the allurement of the passions — of hearken to my song — is 
 none the less suitable to direct the skilful musician in mastering the genius of 
 his audience, captivating them and inspiring them with harmonious sounds, 
 adapted to the peculiar modulations of each passion, such movements as he may 
 judge proper to produce all the marvels told of ancient music, which the modems 
 appear incapable either to equal or surpass. 
 
 The painter and sculptor may likewise find new resources in the opera of 
 nature to improve their art, without being servile copyists of their predecessors. 
 Stimulated by the grandeur, the variety and magnificence they discover, it rests 
 with them to warm with new fire, and distinguish themselves like men of skill 
 by touches that equally interest by their truth and novelty. Choosing to ally 
 with judgment the scattered perfections of Nature, they may even elevate their 
 minds to ideal conceptions of a Nature more beautiful than that now 
 beheld. 
 
 Lastly Architecture, although less invited to imitate Nature, but to shelter 
 us from the wind and rain, does not cease, when observing her, to teach us to 
 distribute her ornaments symmetrically ; to avoid a fantastic and confused 
 variety ; and to give to her works by columns of just proportions and dimensions 
 that appearance of strength and solidity so well brought together in mass which 
 characterises the Creator's works ; and holds a just and agreeable medium 
 between what is too light, or too elaborate. 
 
 Yet, notwithstanding the force of the reasons I have advanced, it has been 
 said over again, that the fine arts degenerate under the empire of philosophy, that 
 the spirit of analysis and exact observation are hurtful to the powers of imagina- 
 
THE ART OF OHSERVINO. 
 
 tion ; put the inuBeH with their j^raceful ways to Hight, or cast them into diHorder 
 and confuBion. It has even been maintained, that tlie a^e in which we live, 
 which is distinguished more than others by a spirit of rcHearch, wan a striking 
 proof of the assertion. But tins disorder, when it exists, is but the sequel of a 
 false philosophical spirit, traces of w hich appear more or less in all ages, and 
 which prevents taste, and deforms all natural philosophy. As, in this science, it 
 brings forth chimeras only, by desiring ince.ssantly to produce new principles 
 without consulting nature, so in works of art by dint of presenting to the reader 
 adroitly rendered thoughts, or seeking to make them appear more ingenious than 
 they really are, corrupt taste, discard the natural, and give to bombaHt and quib- 
 bling the false glitter and affectation of language. 
 
 This was generally remarked at the beginning of the last century, where the 
 freedom of hypothesis, which had caused so much delusion in natural research, 
 still dominated, and had such perceptible influence upon the tine arts, as to cause 
 the study of those grand models of antiquity to be disregarded, which by direct- 
 ing the eminent writers of the seventeenth ceutury, had preserved them from the 
 wanderings of a too presumptuous philosophy. In like manner, the illustrious 
 Agnesseau, when deploring the decadence of the eloquence of the bar towards the 
 beginning of the eighteenth century, saw with sorrow rash men, full of contidence 
 in themnelves, despising the study of the grand masters and the beauties of 
 nature, surrendering themselves to the flights of an unruly imagination, and 
 becoming open-mouthed declaimers. RoUin, who was a good judge in these mat- 
 ters, even thought he saw the moment when the unhealthy savor of brilliant 
 imaginations, and a species of pungency to cover it up, would cause the total ruin 
 of eloquence. Then Architecture, Sculpture and Painting would share the .same 
 fate from the same causes, become fantastica,l and degenerate, from aspiring to- 
 open out new roads without subjection to Nature's laws. 
 
 But since sound philosophy has called back sense to observe Nature and 
 tower to higher thoughts and truer principles, the fine arts have gained much, 
 and originated works that are worthy of the best days of Athens and Rome. The 
 Ontology of the Arts has been created, and has refined the taste of artists, in 
 developing ideas of nature till then in a state of confusion among the generality 
 of men, by teaching them to discern true beauty, beauty unadorned, independent 
 of the prejudices and caprices of fashion, which charms us in the works of Nature 
 and produces sublimity in the Arts. This same spirit of research and observa- 
 tion has successfully extended itself even to grammar. It has opened up the 
 whole order of relation between thought and language. In attaching itself to 
 the proper genius of language, it has discovered principles where it was thought 
 there existed only whimsy or caprice ; made us feel on what the harmony of a 
 discourse depends ; gave clear and sure rules on all the parts composing it ; aided 
 in adroitly catching the subtle and delicate shades that distinguish synonyms ;. 
 
m 
 
 
 •6 
 
 THE ART OF OHSEHVINU. 
 
 placod liinitH to an exce.sHivo timidity which iinpovtfrishea speech ; tuuj^ht uh to 
 reunite onergeticul ly thr>se terms (jxpressing now ideas, and enricli language with 
 new words, according as they mai<e perfect and extend tiie taste for the arts and 
 sciences. 
 
 indeed we still see too ninny writers tormented witli ti rage for wit, swerving 
 from nature, atiecting an ambiguous, tangled, enigmatic style, torturing their 
 minds as if to conceal great judgment within them, but, after vain • orts to 
 penetrate their secrets, leave them void and destitute of instruction ; or substi" 
 tute frigidly analysed opinions for tliose grand Hashes which warm, transport and 
 pierce the soul. But happily for the honor of our century, and the philosophic 
 spiiit which characterises it, all those aft'ected writers, who in seeking after the 
 wondeiful and the extraordinary, neglect the language of nature, the fittest to 
 pursuade, are recognized for what they are worth. The standard of merit is 
 fixed by the most eminent authors. Dur century has seen observers of every 
 kind ; naturalists, physicians, sublime and eloquent philo.sophers, adorned with 
 the most brilliant literary attainmeni,.', made to serve as models to the centuries 
 to come. D'Agnesseau, that grand master of the art of oratory, observed that 
 the eloquence of the bar, wl :*e decline he had first announced, rose again with 
 new splendor. If to satisfy, to move and convince the mind, we must rea.son 
 with force, and present ideas which are in accord with nature : if to speak to the 
 heart, a profound knowledge of the passions is necessary ; it follows that the 
 spell of eloquence depends upon the art with which we study nature, and man in 
 particular. 
 
 Oh ! you who depict with so much force of truth and approbation the mar- 
 vels which the universe everywhere displays to our eyes ; you who by unfolding 
 to the world with so much energy and precision the virtues of the heroes and 
 benefactors of the human race, have given grand and weighty examples to the 
 lessons of wisdom ; you, who in vindicating the right of the oppressed, in con- 
 founding the usurper, in protecting the widow and the orphan, in making harm- 
 less th ) blows that fanaticism meditated against the innocent, have restored and 
 sustained the honor of the bar ; inform us how you stamp upon your thoughts 
 that character of grandeur which elevates the mind ; whence comes that vigorous, 
 bold and rapid touch that warms and carries away the soul '! Is it not from the 
 powerful inluences of genius, from profound and philosophic meditations upon 
 nature, from all the springs that stir the human heart, the morals, the laws, and 
 the great subjects yon are called upon to discuss, that you owe the grand, noble 
 and picturesque manner that distinguishes your sublime discourses. 
 
 Far from spoiling eloquence, the spirit of research and observation, in the 
 present century has sustained, made perfect and even created many kinds, in 
 banishing pompous discourses, insipid and trivial formularies, and making them 
 interesting, whether by instructive reflection, or by a noble and nervous style. It 
 
THE ART OF UHSRRVINO. 
 
 18 this which, in the tributeH of praine that liturary Hocietie.s nay to the ineinury 
 of the great men they have lost, has made ohxjuence truthfully describe th« 
 ideas, the views, the line peculiar flashes which characterize the genius of the 
 writer and elegantly conceal, l)y luminous and profound reHoctious, the aversion 
 
 attached to panegyric. 
 
 The philosophic and observing mind is not, therefore, the enemy of the 
 Graces. If it weighs, if it appraises everything, it is not for the purpose of put- 
 ting fetters on talents, but otdy to prevent the rambles of impetuous genius. If 
 it restrains the fiery sallies of imagination, it also knows to speak its own lan- 
 guage when necessary, to dilt'use without pride, and wisely, the adornments 
 indispensable to the sciences, that they may be understood, relished and revered. 
 
 Have we ".ot also seen in this century many celebrated writers who, when 
 introducing the most abstract, the dryest, and most difl^cult matters in a facile 
 and agreeable manner, had the exquisite art of making them accessible to ordin- 
 ary comprehension. By means o*' this philo.sophic smile, the profound memoirs 
 of the Academy of Sciences launt d out among them, and dispersed the dark- 
 ness that reigned upon the subjects to which their sttidies were applied. 
 
 If poetry seems to-day less fruitful than formerly, it is because the strength 
 of many kindn has been exhausted, for, to produco sparkle and brilliancy, besides 
 the charms of harmony and the happy choice of expressicTi, we require thoughts 
 more than ever equally interesting from their solidity, novelty and nobleness of 
 soul. According as the spirit of observation and research progresses in a nation, 
 she demands more and more in this regard, makes the course more difficult to 
 run, to captivate esteem and compel applause. Nevertheless our century may, in 
 many respects be proud of having produced great poets who will ever be 
 acknowledged by the purest taste and severest reason. We venture here to attest 
 the immortal works of the Henriade, which holds such a distinguished place 
 among the most brilliant efforts of poetry, or those other philosophic poets who 
 penetrated with the beauties of nature present such animated pictures, that by an 
 almost irresistible illusion their readers believe themselves transported to the 
 midst of the scenes themselves. 
 
 Behold how the art of observing contributes to bring to perfection all the 
 fine arts. It remains for us to speak of its influence on the progress of the 
 Mechanic Arts, which notwithstanding the unjust disregard for a long time 
 manifested towards them have since been vindicated as necessary to the well- 
 being of society, since they teach to make subservient to her uses the produc- 
 tions and agencies of Nature. 
 
 II. The knowledge which the art of observing brings to bear upon' the 
 structure of bodies, the tenacity of their parts, their resistance to fracture ; the 
 polish, more or less bright, of which they are susceptible ; their degrees of mallea- 
 bility, of ductility, of weight and transparency, the regularity of their parts' an'd 
 
w 
 
 8 
 
 THE ART OF OB8ERVINO. 
 
 facility of being wrought, or being divided in one way rather than another, should 
 teach to what arts, that demand some one of these qualities, the different bodies 
 may be successfully applied. The properties or dispositions concealed in bodies 
 are laid open only by profound experiment or subtle procedure, their composition 
 or decomposition for medicine, the arts and uses of life, an infinity of different 
 substances, combinations and resources, the knowledge of which cannot be too 
 highly estimated. We know for example that chemical analysis applied in separ- 
 ating heterogeneous metallic substances which mask themselves from view, 
 furnishes us wit!i the means of purifying them and appreciating their richness 
 with pre'idion. Natural objects do not alwuys present themselves to us in a 
 fbrm fit for use. We must first prepare, combine, torment them, so to speak, in 
 a thousand ways, and submit them to different operations. It frequently happens 
 we succeed in producing the desired effect by means which at first sight appear 
 very unlikely to lead to it, and even contrary to well known facts. Also we 
 must not doubt that new experiments may spread greater light on those prepar- 
 ations which best respond to the first trials of art. When we see what certain 
 combinations succeed in one case, they may be applied to others in the attempt 
 to overcome the opposing difficulties, and endeavor if possible to arrive at the 
 same results. We will find an example of this in the labors of chemists who 
 strive to procure stability for a greater number of colors in dyeing. They labor 
 to penetrate the cloth or stuff with a middle salt, which, being insoluble in cold 
 water, and indestructible by the action of air and light, serves as a proper 
 mordant to hold fast the coloring atoms in the pores of the material without 
 changing color. What increases the difficulty of this work, is, that in using a 
 a certain mordant it often happens that the same dj. 3 gives beautiful and fast 
 colors to some fabrics, whilst it gives very disrgreeable and fading colors to 
 fabrics of a different kind. Chemists must then seek to find whence comes this 
 difference. They often discover it and succeed in communicating the same color 
 to refractory fabrics as to those with which they succeeded best. The same 
 cochineal bath which communicated the most beautiful scarlet to a piece of cloth 
 gave to silk only a disagreeable color of the lees of wine, so little tenacious and 
 permanent as not to resist a single washing in water. Those artists who strive 
 less to open new roads by their observations than to follow old ways were 
 stopped as if by an invincible obstacle. The research of a chemist as able as 
 Macquer were required to show that a solution of tin in aqua regia could serve 
 to give to silk the brilliant red of cocaineal. 
 
 In studying the natural history of one's country by observations, experi- 
 ments, and various combinations of objects that present themselves, we often 
 succeed in putting to good use many substances formerly slighted aud overlooked, 
 and may dispense with bringing them from abroad, because we already possess 
 them and can substitute them as equivalents. The more we observe, the more 
 
 
THE ART OF OBSERVING. 
 
 
 we have reason to be convinced that men are generally slaves to a singular 
 prejudice which pursuades them that everything beautiful and peculiar in nature 
 should rather be discovered in distant regions. Naturalists themselves, who may 
 seem to be less subject to preoccupations of this nature, have sometimes given 
 way to this fatal prejudice. Thej' have been known to devote their labors to the 
 examination of substances brought at great expense from abroad, and often 
 impaired by transit, whilst objects that present themselves to their sight are lost 
 to view, and which, besides the advantages of possessing properties worthy of 
 observation are within call, and have undergone no change before examination. 
 VV'^e also feel how much this unjust prejudice against the production of one's 
 country injures the commerce and industry of a nation, and makes her tributary 
 to others. Naturalists who are as enlightened as they are good citizens have 
 discovered stones at home at> beautiful and worthy of workmanship as those from 
 other lands 
 
 The researches of Reaumur have proved not only that turquoise is petrifieil 
 fossil bone, colored by a metallic solution that fire has caused to extend, but 
 besides that there were turquoise mines in France that did not yield neither in 
 size nor beauty to those found in Persia. Guettard found that the preference 
 given to Egyptian granite over that which France produced was based on prejudice 
 and the slight examination that had been made of the latter. He even considered 
 that those of Mount Dauphin surpassed in beauty those of Egypt. This able 
 naturalist also showed that France possessed those spotted pebbles, stained with 
 different colors, which make such pretty work, and were considered peculiar in 
 England. And lastly, he showed that France possessed the material of which 
 China boasted, and made such excellent porcelain. 
 
 It is painful to think that more active research has not been made with « 
 view to extract many colors from our plants and insects which are now ob'^ained 
 froui foreign plants and insects, or at least to naturalize those plants and insects 
 in our climate. If in searching whether other materials can be added to or .sub- 
 stituted for those first employed in the Arts, it might happen that the results 
 obtained would not be equally beautiful. But although of inferior degree they 
 may be usefully employed i i many cases which do not demand perfection in 
 workmanship, or saving in expenditure. Experiments of this kind may often 
 place us in a position to benefit from what at first sight would seem to be an 
 injury. Thus an able observer once proposed that caterpillars, who destroy our 
 trees, would make amends to some extent if the thread they spun was u.sed in 
 manufacture of paper. 
 
 How many more advantages may we not reap from the rules which the 
 art of observing aftbrds for the discovery of the secret operations of nature, and 
 means of making them favorable to vegetation, or preventing the changes which 
 they have a tendency to pi-oduce in objects most interesting to mankind. I will 
 
r^ 
 
 10 
 
 THE AHT OF OBSEIiVING. 
 
 not repeat hore what has already been said respecting the assistance it renders to 
 medicine and agriculture, but I will not silently overlook the advantajjes derived 
 rom it every day in bringing the veterinary art to perfection. 
 
 This important art, formerly abandoned to the basest hands, is to-day 
 cultivated by well-informed observers, who, after numerous dissections of animals 
 that had died of epidemic diseases, laid the basis of a science founded upon incon- 
 testible experiments, and taught numerous students the rules derived from them 
 for the healing of animals, and tlu' preservation of the farmer from overwhelming 
 losses. 
 
 Domestic animals, always better observed in everything that relates to their 
 natural condition, their constitution and animal economy, will thus produce fine 
 and pleasing aspects for the perfection of the species and making them more 
 useful to man. D'Aubenton, having made researches upon the mechanism of 
 rumination to which certain species of animals are subject, had occasion to observe 
 the influence this operation had upon their temper unent : deduced very judicious 
 rules on the manner of treating them to save them from diseases and imperfections. 
 These observations particularly convinced him how pernicious the custom was 
 ^hat prevailed in many countries of keeping .sheep in warm stables. He compre- 
 hended that this artificial heat caused, by an abundant i)erspiration, thf" Sss of a 
 portion of the serosity which was necessary to the animal for the purpose of 
 rumination : whence he concluded that the animal economy was thus perturbed 
 by bad digestion resulting in disease to the sheep, and defective wool. For the 
 purpose of putting this reas(jning to the test of experience, he kept r little flock 
 in the open air night and day, without any cover, even for the rack. They were 
 exposed to very cold and violent winds, to continual rain, to many days of foggy 
 'weather, and to frost and snow. They sufi'ered every kind of atmospheric intem- 
 perature, and nevertheless they were always more healthy and more vigorous 
 than others kept in stables. Sheep exposed to the open air gave birth to lambs 
 that stood the test of hard frost the first days of their life, and were, nevertheless, 
 perceptibly more vigorous than those kept in stables, and their mothers suffered 
 no harm. 
 
 The study of domestic animals by well-informed natural philosophers may 
 also lead to special methods of facilitating their bi'eeding and multiplication, and 
 supplying their wants. We know that the celebrated Reaumur, when studying 
 the degree of heat necessary for hatching eggs and raising young birds, discovered 
 the method of substituting the action of artificial heat for incubation, an art, 
 indeed, known to the Egyptians and Chinese, but which they could not practice 
 with the same facility and the same precision which a gi-aduated thermometer now 
 furnished, whose perfection is solely due to the labors of the natural philosopher. 
 
 The operations of nature exactly followed and well understood can frequently 
 furnish excellent models to the mechanician, and lead to the discovery of useful 
 
 E I 
 
THK ART OF OBSEUVINd. 
 
 11 
 
 machines, or the improvement of those he already possesses. It was the structure 
 of the eye that suggested to the celebrated Eulor the happy idea of forming 
 object glasses of two different refractory materials to cause the aberration of light 
 to disappear in dioptric glasses, for, observing that the eye was not incommoded 
 with the iris, he conceived that the Author of Nature had composed the eye of 
 dift'erent refractory matei-ials, as if with the design of connecting by this means 
 the aberration of the rays, which a single medium necessarily introduced. 
 
 The perfect imitation of Nature's procedure thus guifies the arts to perfe^^tion. 
 It is neverthtiless true, that before reaching the top of the hill the necessary 
 knowledge and executive pcjwer over her secret operations frecjuently fail. But 
 we should always, when it is po.ssible, strive tp imitate her, if not very closely, at 
 least at a distance. The more we attentively consider the agencies she employs 
 and the mode cf operation, the more we find the means of so doing, ably assisting 
 our designs. 
 
 A first observation is a notice to wait the result, until .some idea of an 
 intention or discovery is formed although still course and clumsy. But more 
 profound ol)servations of its nature and the pi'operties of the agency brought into 
 play upon the su.sceptible force ; upon the obstacles which oppose its action : upon 
 the circumstances by which its aptitude to produce an effect may be increased ; 
 upon the manner of using it with the greatest advantage and the least incum- 
 brance : soon bring an imperfect machine or discovery to perfection when a 
 general view of its use and purpose has been grasped. This is the history of 
 the generality of mechanical inventions. A superficial observation preconceived 
 the mariner's ompass, which for a long time was rudely constructed. But 
 natural philosophers, by handling the loadstone in a thousand ways, by penetrating 
 more and more into its mysteries, by investigating the best methods of increasing 
 its directive force and applying it to the magnetic needle, have brought this 
 instrument, so necessary to navigation, to perfection ; have given it force to direct 
 it to the magnetic pole, and made it extremely mobile on its pivot without 
 causing it to lose the property of settling itself promptly towards the point the 
 loadstone directs. 
 
 Similarly, a first glance at the facility with which water evaporates when it 
 is extended over a large surface with little depth, suggested graduated levels in 
 brine pits to supplement in part the action of air with that of fire and thereby 
 save too great consumption of wood. But the more extended observations of an 
 enlightened philosopher on the mode by which Nature carries on evaporations 
 have made the invention more advantageous. Given the same temperature of 
 air, the quantity of water evaporated depends not only on the extent of surface 
 over which the water is spread, but also upon the time it remains exposed to the 
 Action of the aii-, he conceived that the number of times the water watt 
 renewed might be <Hniinished by means of pumps to procure a new 
 
12 
 
 THE ART OF OBSERVING. 
 
 i 
 
 evaporation ; since to produce the same quantity of evaporated water, 
 it was only necessary to let the water glide along more slowly 
 in the sheds, and by this simple artifics more work is got from the motive 
 power to evaporate a greater quantity of water. The illustrious Haller has also 
 improved these inventions, and has shewn of what resources the spirit of obser- 
 vation is capable ; liaving recognized many inconveniences of the graduated 
 levels, from his knowledge of the country and the seasons where the heat is suffi- 
 cient he opened a new route and procured, when using solar evaporation only with 
 the salt water, a more considerable (juantity and at less expense, than could 
 be obtained by thf; ordinary methods. 
 
 Profound ar.i well con.sidered observations are so much the more necessary 
 to place one in a position to use Nature's agencies in the most advantageous man- 
 ner, as it is sometimes difficult to accomplish one's designs by means which, 
 after a superficial examination, appear rather to diminish their force, failirg to 
 have well considered and grasped all the circumstances which usually accompany 
 the action of these agencies. How many people would not have viewed as a very 
 improbable, and even absurd means of strengthening a piece of wood to saw it 
 partly, and insert a foreign body ! Nevertheless, this method appears very well 
 conceived, if a person examines attentively what happens when a piece of wood 
 is ready to break under hip care. As a matter of fact what does happen then t 
 
 Towards the place where the rupture is likely to happen, some fibres con- 
 tract on the concave surface. The extension fibres resist, whilst the contracte<{ 
 fibres give way. Those between the two kinds, being neither contracted nor 
 extended, form a prop against which the extended fibres that resist fraction, 
 press themselves, and the action of these last is greater as the prop is farther 
 from them, and approaches nearer the concave part because the leverage under 
 which they act is so much greater. This idea which well observed phenomena 
 supplies being caught by a clever philosopher led him to understand that he must 
 substitute an incompressible body in place of the contracted fibres in order to 
 increase the strength of the wood, by placing at a distance from one another the 
 prop and the fibres which occasioned the I'esistance. When he concluded that by 
 sawing the wood in the thick part, provided the saw kerf was filled again with 
 a hard substance, he could by this means increase the strength and stiffness of 
 the piece, in such manner that the foreign body would brace up the entrance of 
 the line of the saw more than the other end of the kerf. 'Chese considerations, 
 when submitted to experiment were confirmed and furnished a more ingenious 
 and efficacious means of increasing the strength of wood, than a slight attention 
 at first sight would have deemed practicable.* 
 
 Other similar examples which could easily be mentioned shew how much 
 the progress that has been made in the art of observing the operations of Nature 
 favors those of the mechanic. 
 
 * The practical utility of the obiervatioai in the above paragraph is not apparent at the first Rlanoe. 
 
THE ART OK OHSEHVINO. 
 
 Note. — It is not generally known that trees, as tlie maple and elm, for 
 example, have two growths, namely, a Spring and an August growth, in the same 
 year. 
 
 This art should, still more, produce this efi'ect, as the spirit of observation 
 unceasingly calls from (ivery side to rt'(lonbIe itself, and overleap the ditticulties 
 which the secrets of nature conceal from view, and always accompained by an 
 active curiosity that is not content with ordinary ideas, but seeking to satisfy 
 itself by some novelty, must necessarily, by dint of exei'cisc, till the head with 
 resources, and ac(|uire great facility to Hing forward towards some new prop, 
 from which the i-osult had in view can be produced. 
 
 The art of observing doubtless finds great assistatiee in accomplishing its 
 ends from t\w light of geometry. Nevertheless, this light frequently leads, iu 
 the arts, to jiure chimeras. To be convinced of this, we have only to look at the 
 errors of geometricians in estimating and applyinjj; the agencies of Nature to 
 machines, when they have not looked at them in all their aspects. For examplei 
 being persuaded that the waters of a running stream act on the Hat boards of an 
 undershot wheel solely by their shock, they have drawn deductions from the 
 number and most advantageous arrangement of the boards, that a geometrician, 
 Desparoieux, a better observer than his fellow members, found contrary to 
 experience, because they had neglected to consider that running water acted on 
 the b )ards, not only by its shock, but also by its weight. In like manner it 
 appears from experiments recently made by De Borda on the resistance that 
 Huids oppose to the motion of solid bodies, that those who have worked on the 
 construction of ships, or the direction of their movements by the power of the 
 helm and the disposition of the sails, risked a good deal in making many usele.s8 
 calculations by not starting from well observed facts. Moreover, let us add that 
 whatever difficulties the geometrician may encounter in estimating with percision 
 the agencies he attempted to employ, he is always obliged to make allowance for 
 many circumstances which he frequently cannot foresee, and which should largely 
 modify the results according to the facts, as for example the quality of the 
 materials that are used ; certain circumstances that prevent a machine from 
 speeding too much, or too little ; the effect of air, of heat, of cold, of moisture, 
 and the friction which varies according to the structure of the bodies, their 
 cavities, • lie form of their prominent parts, their elasticity, their coherence or 
 their degree of velocity, respecting which no general rule can be laid down. If, 
 therefore, the art of observing does not succeed in discovering the restrictions 
 which must be brought to bear in particular cases as consequences of imperfect 
 geometrical investigation, we may be led astray by seductive calculations. 
 
 The spirit of ob.servation thus frees us in the arts from a thousand frivolous 
 expectations too hastily conceived. In discovering, by dint of handling objects 
 i^i every way, the particular difficulties which oppose themselves to the production 
 
 inoe. 
 
m 
 
 u 
 
 THE ART OF OBSERVINfS. 
 
 '^ 
 
 of certain results it undertakes to bid defiance to arbitrary promises and exaggera. 
 tions of many great talkers and little doers, who have no other end in view but 
 the enrichment of themselves at the expense of a credulous public. The sound 
 ideas o' Chemistry to which the art of observing is indebted have, for exampli\ 
 drawn us away from the ruinous and fiuitless researches of the alchemists, and 
 directed the labors of true chemists towards objects within their reatrh, and from 
 which tlie arts may expect more real advantage. Similarly, the con.-iderations 
 which observation on the friction of bodies have furnished, and nn resisting 
 mediums, have m'oved the impo.ssibility of perpetual motion, and the u.scdcssiie.ss 
 of any propositions lespecting it. 
 
 Nevertheless, however useful it may be to know the limits of the arts, that 
 is to say to determine the point that nuiy not be pas.sed, we should not he hasty 
 in drawing such conch ision.s. The art of observing does not permit us to regard 
 an invention as absolutely impossible unless such impossibility is made to appear 
 by the best evidence, and repeated and incontestible experience. I'or it may 
 happen that now observations furnisli luminous and unexpected views to over- 
 come an obstacle, whicli at first appeared insurmountablp. So we ai'c often too 
 hasty in deciding upon the impossibility of certain instruments and mathines. 
 
 Achromatic glasses and telescopes and the mirror of Ardiimedes accomplished 
 by Button, are striking examples of this truth. In searching in every corner and 
 the most secret recesses of nature we may procurti unexpected treasures. Tlit- 
 satellites of Jupiter discovered almost at the extremity of our solar sy-tem, at 
 an immense distance From our globe ; Parallax and the motions of the moon 
 determined with the greatest exactitude ; and a singular experiment of the pen- 
 dulum that induced a precise in isurement of the earth have given new ajid 
 powerful aid to geography, and to navigation that manly art which enables us to 
 surmount the difficulties that nature had put in the way of our travels, .uid to 
 use the winds and waters to carry us into the most distant regions. 
 
 All observations, it is true, do not immediately lead to manifest utility. But 
 everything is knit together in nature. It would be difficult to find there some 
 discovery which by the etHux of time, new points of view, new facts, or compari- 
 son with some other discovery, cannot be made of greater use. In the first 
 experiments upon electricity we were far from thinking that they would one day 
 lead to the discovery of a method of preserving edifices from the terrible effects 
 of thunder and lightning.* But the identity, or extreme analogy of electric 
 fluid and thunder having afterwards been demonstrated, it was not difficult to 
 imagine, that it would be possible to succeed by raising the metallic points above 
 the edifices which, communicating by similar conductors with the earth, would 
 draw off", so to speak, the electric fire from the stormy clouds that approaclied tlie 
 buildings, and disperse them silently without explosion. 
 
 1* Witness now, the dynamo, the electric railway, and eltctric liKhr.. 
 
 Y* .t 
 
Convex and concavo glussea had been handled by men for three hundred 
 years before theydreauied to use them in the construction of telescopes. 
 I It was noticed for a long time that vapour rose from water, and shot out 
 
 violently through little holes pierced in a closed vase that contained it, when 
 exposed to heat, without thinking for a moment of drawing any advantage from 
 it, but it was afterwards comprehended by observers tiiat they could use the 
 elastic force of a similar vapour obtained from a moderate tire to move the piston 
 of a pump, and raise water. 
 
 Archimedes was doubtless the tirst who remarked that the weight of a body 
 was less in water than in air, but being resolved to compare the loss which bodies 
 of the same weight and different density sustained in the same fluid, he deduced 
 a method of discovering in what proportion the parts of a mixture were, as gold 
 and silver in an alloy. Why therefore not hope that the most stertile oKserva- 
 tions in our hands may bear fruit when wielded by our successors, and influence 
 sooner or later the improvement of the arts, and the needs of life. 
 
 But after all, when some observations, as may be the case with .some electric 
 phenomena, have nothing to recommend them but their singularity, and do not 
 lead to any mateiial and perceptible utility, which is not even probable, they will 
 always be precious in that they serve as an aliment to a veiy reasonable curiosity 
 natural to men without which their attecrpts to cultivate the science and arts for 
 many thousands of years would have been in vain, and which spurs them on to 
 extend their boundaries unlike the Chinese, who for many centuries liave made 
 no new progre.ss in them, because they think less of observing Nature than 
 respecting the knowledge they have received from their ancestors. 
 
 Love of new discoveries ! precious fruit of the spirit of ob.servation, that 
 extends itself more and more every day, it belongs to thee to give to the nation 
 most accused of unsteadiness and frivolity, a character of stability, when we 
 attempt to cultivate the sciences and the arts, to pry into nature, to spread before 
 us for our use the motions of the stars, the earth, the seas, the minerals, the rivers 
 ir? short the whole assemblage of bodies that compose this univer.se ! 
 
 Compaie the actual state of the arts that bring themselves into play in times 
 of peace and times of war with what they were less than a century ago, it will 
 be found that immense progress has been made, because at this epoch the spirit of 
 observation has especiall}'^ begun to take possession of all orders of citizens. But 
 what demonstrates its powerful influence upon the perfection of the arts is the 
 fact that it appeared a short time ago in the strangest places. 
 
 Since a northern potentate, sacrificing himself for his country with a desire 
 to instruct his people, stepped down from the throne to travel as a philosophic 
 observer amongst the most polished nations of Europe, and carried away to his 
 dominions their taste and genius for knowledge, due to observation, to cultivate 
 and adoin the mind ; these fertile seeds were naturalized in those northern 
 
^H 
 
 THE ART OF OBSKUVINCJ. 
 
 countricH, and puHlied out (loop root-H. From that moiiioiit the impulse of goiiiuw 
 made itself felt anioiii; men who not lono; l)ef()i'e had emer}i;ed from harbarism. 
 An ardent and consuminj.^ curiosity bestowed on then) an industry which con- 
 vinced the n that lavinh Nature only waited th'' a'«sistance to pour out her abund- 
 ance ; find new routoH for commerce, discover northern <!xtr('mitieH of Asia, and 
 the arms of the nea that separated the old from the new worl'i, to Rurvey their 
 vast fjooirraphical and physieal extent, and learn their advnntaijes and th 'ir 
 value. 
 
 Lastly, it is trne to speak of the jjreatest advantaj^t! that the art ofohservin^ 
 lirinj^s to the human ndnd l)y furnishing it with .surpassin«f considerat-ions of a 
 l)etter iifcs and <,'ivinij us the most majestic ideas of our (,'reator to elevate our 
 conceptions, banish all superstition, and lead us to solid and eternal felicity. 
 
 This should make the art precious to all m,t'n. who are alike called to marcii 
 in the glorious career of Imihuh" and virtue 
 
& 
 
 *. i'