Part 28

The third rule concerns the center of gravity. By reference to the fig. (49), a vertical line will be perceived, drawn through the center of the figure. Whenever the body is at rest upon its legs, standing at ease, as one may say, this imaginary line must always pass through its center.

We shall see more about this hereafter, at present confining ourselves to the consideration of the first two rules These must be considered as only generally true.

They have, however, to be well considered in connection with our present subject; for as we said with the face, any great deviation from them leads to oddity, and is at the root of caricature drawing.

Trace out, or sketch out any size, the figures (Fig. 49 and 50), or any others for yourselves: or taking any well drawn figure in a print which may not be too costly to use so, draw with a black lead pencil upon the print similar lines to those in the figures, that is to say, divide its length into eight parts, first dropping a central line perpendicular to the ground.

You will thus test the accuracy of the rule, and familiarize yourself with the proportions of the figure. Then, for the purpose of comic drawing, you will vary these proportions. A face too long or too short, a body too large or too small for the legs, or legs otherwise disproportionate to the rest of the body, will yield the desired results. It will be seen by the Figs. 51 and 52 that their oddity has been arrived at simply by this rule, or by the deviation from the strict rule of proportion.

Fig. 53 is given in illustration of the remarks upon the second rule. The form is correct enough as regards height, and deviates in the matter of lateral proportion.

We now come to consider the third principle--that of the center of gravity.

Observe in the annexed figures how the first (Fig. 54) being at rest, commends itself to the reason like a mathematical demonstration. The next diagram shows a partial deviation from the center of gravity, is in a false position, and we begin either to pity or to laugh--poor diagram! The two following figures are other cases of the same sort--we feel instinctively for them--they are very far gone. Try this rule upon your slates or sketching blocks; and after that we will go on to the next subject. In the diagrams (Figs. 58, 59), the same principle is enforced. The first is at rest, because the line passing through the center of the figure is a vertical line. In the next figure, that line being out of the vertical, the balance is disturbed, and the figure topples; so with the next. This is so plain that argument is not needed to demonstrate it.

Try this also for yourselves as before. Nor need we confine our experiments to figures comparatively at rest: forms in every variety of action come under the same rule--it is a law of nature. There is a central line drawn through the whole system of the universe, through every tree, and plant, and stone, and every upright thing, could we but see it.

The first of the following figures is in full action, but it may go on for ever, as its balance is not in any way disturbed. The second is fast hastening to its fall. The third is much nearer still to that consummation.

It will suggest itself to every reader to apply the rule to other objects than the human figure. Trees in the positions of Figs. 64 and 65 are never seen unless through some violent accident; they may bend, and twist, and meander, but taking the objects as a whole, a central line, vertical to the horizon, will be detected, as shown in Fig. 65.

If we turn our attention in any direction upon natural objects, the clouds, the earth, the sea, flowers, trees, or animal bodies, we cannot fail to see that _a curved line_ is always to be made out in their forms. Indeed, just so far as they are graceful and pleasing objects to the eye, this curved line is distinguishable. On the contrary, square lines offend the eye when met with under such circumstances. It is almost impossible indeed to imagine a square cloud, a square flower, or a square horse. When we see a square headed man, we are not impressed in his favor. We may have met with representations of natural objects, such as rocks, hill tops, mountain precipices, and the like, which had a square or nearly square appearance; but such things are almost always presented to our view as phenomena--_i. e._ things violating the regular order or general rule of nature. This curved line, which is the line of beauty, must pervade all nature; it is the natural law; and we cannot sufficiently admire the truth that that which is most necessary is also most beautiful.

Does any one ask what particular reference these observations have to "Art in Sport?" Let us say that they alone can properly understand what is comic who have learned to appreciate what is _not_ comic. The distance between the sublime and the ridiculous is said to be very small--only one step. At any rate, the student who best understands the first will best appreciate the second. Socrates did not disdain to write an essay upon this subject, insisting that the very same qualities were essential in the comic and the tragic artist. But this is digressive.

Let us resume: In the annexed figure (67) you perceive the curved line. In proportion as you are able to make this perfectly, you will succeed in drawing gracefully. I must presume that very many of my readers will have no difficulty in copying the few natural objects suggested below. Practice upon your slate or board the figure (67) until you can do it easily. Then, for the purposes of "sport," proceed as follows. You wish to produce a droll "bit" of landscape. Take any simple view, such as submitted in Fig. 68.

In this you will readily discover, as I said above, the curved, graceful lines of beauty--in the clouds, the outline of the distant hills, the foliage, the meandering stream. Let me advise you to practice this lesson somewhat perseveringly; apart from the new source of amusement which it is the object of these papers to open up, a beautiful lesson could be impressed upon the mind. Nothing is more calculated to refine the mind, to ennoble the thoughts, than to withdraw one's self from the artificial world, and to gaze upon the fresh face of nature. And if we are able to do this intelligently--in other words, if, having learned the alphabet, we are able to peruse as it were the book of nature--the delight and the advantage is proportionably increased. Now turn to the example shown in Fig. 69. What do we see? The lines of beauty have given place to others less pleasing to the eye, and (except as a source of merriment) less acceptable to the mind. Fig. 69 is a comic landscape; how it has become so must be clearly apparent.

In Fig. 70, the same process is carried out, and the result is similar.

I hope that I shall not be understood to mean, that in order to be graceful everything must be round, or that everything round is graceful, or that every square object is ungraceful; or, again, that by making any curved line into a square or straight one the end we propose is to be obtained. Doubtless many round things are ungraceful, as many others composed entirely of straight lines at various angles to each other are exceedingly graceful. But what is meant is this: that natural objects, in which, left to themselves, the curved line predominates, are made odd and comic-looking when drawn upon the square.

In Fig. 71, not only the lines of the shepherd's form are curved lines, and, therefore, conducive in a degree to its general pleasing character, but the _attitude_ is formed upon a curved line. This will be perceived clearer by reference to the next figure, (72,) in which, without using a single straight line in the parts of the form, the oddity is attained by making the whole attitude stiff and angular.

The student will find no difficulty in multiplying examples for himself: those given will suffice as hints. We must now proceed to show how comic designs may be made and applied to the slides of magic lanterns. The proper course of procedure is as follows:

Procure a piece of clear common window glass, without specks or scratches; let this be made perfectly clean. Prepare your design, which should be made the exact size you intend it to be painted upon the glass; color it; and when quite dry, place it beneath your slide of glass, to which it might be fastened at the corners by means of a little gum or varnish. Now commence to paint upon the glass an exact fac simile of the design, which, of course, you see clearly enough through the glass.

Common camel's hair brushes will do; those made of sable are, however, much better; but the first will suffice for ordinary purposes.

The colors necessary are what are called silica colors, and are procurable of most artist's color makers.

It will be necessary to let your first colors dry before putting on your shades; and it is desirable not to work in too hot a room, as the nature of the varnish with which you work is to dry very rapidly.

Bear in mind too, that upon glass you cannot wash in a tint. Broad surfaces, such as skies, must be stippled in, as in painting upon ivory.

In originating this paper on "The Magic of Art," the author did not propose to himself to give a complete treatise, but simply to point out, by some very easy processes, at source of amusement and instruction, available to almost every intelligent reader. It is hoped that, in this subject, he has not entirely failed, and that all will find some entertainment from,

"Art in Sport."

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 14: This is done easily enough, but the following directions may not be needless for some. Draw a straight line for a base of any length. If you wish to form a equilateral triangle, _i. e._ one of which the three sides are equal, divide this base line by two, and at the point of division set up an upright line; then from each end of the base line slant against the central upright line one the length of the base. These, of course, will meet at the top, and the triangle is formed. Any other triangle may be formed in a similar manner, the length of the sides being at the choice of the artist.]

SECRET WRITING.

The art of communicating secret information by means of writing, which is intended to be illegible except by the person for whom it is destined, is very ancient. The ancients sometimes shaved the head of a slave, and wrote upon the skin with some indelible coloring matter, and then sent him, after his hair had been grown again, to the place of his destination. This is not, however, properly secret writing, but only a concealment of writing. Another kind, which corresponds better with the name, is the following, used by the ancients. They took a small stick, and wound around it bark or papyrus, upon which they wrote. The bark was then unrolled and sent to the correspondent, who was furnished with a stick of the same size. He wound the bark again round this, and thus was enabled to read what had been written.

This mode of concealment is evidently very imperfect. Cryptography properly consists in writing with signs, which are legible only to him for whom the writing is intended, or who has a key or explanation of the signs. The most simple method is to choose for every letter of the alphabet some sign, or only another letter. But this sort of cryptography (chiffre) is also easy to be deciphered without a key. Hence many illusions are used. No separation is made between the words, or signs of no meaning are inserted between those of real meaning. Various keys are also used according to rules before agreed upon. By this means the deciphering of the writing becomes difficult for a third person not initiated, but it is also extremely troublesome to the correspondents themselves, and a slight mistake often makes it illegible even to them.

Another mode of communicating intelligence secretly, viz. to agree upon some printed book, and mark the words out, is also troublesome, and not at all safe. The method of concealing the words which are to convey the information intended in matter of a very different character, in a long letter which the correspondent is enabled to read by applying a paper to it, with holes corresponding to the places of the significant words, is attended with many disadvantages: the paper may be lost, the repetition of certain words may lead to a discovery, and the difficulty of connecting the important with the unimportant matter, so as to give to the whole the appearance of an ordinary letter, is considerable.

There are many kinds of sympathetic inks. They are so called because the writings or drawings made by them are illegible, till by the action of some chemical agents, such as light, heat, acids, or other substances are brought in contact with them, when they appear. A weak sulphate of iron will be invisible in writing till washed over with a weak solution of prussiate of potass, which turns it of a beautiful blue. If we write with the nitro-muriate of gold, and afterwards brush the letters over with dilute muriate of tin, the writing will appear of a beautiful purple. If we write with a diluted solution of muriate of copper, and when dry present it to the fire, it will be of a yellow color.

Chemistry was also in great request for secret writing, and various substances were found to afford a fluid which would leave no mark behind the pen, until some chemical agent were applied. For example, if a letter be written with a pen dipped in the juice of lemon, the words will be invisible until the paper is held before the fire. This is caused by the action of the heat. Again, if a solution of nitrate of iron be the fluid used, the writing cannot be seen until it is dipped into a solution of galls, or even into tea, which will act upon the iron, and become ink. It was found that if a plain sheet of paper were sent, and intercepted, the very fact of its being plain rendered it suspicious, and every means were used to render visible any writing that might be on it. A letter was therefore written with ordinary ink, on indifferent subjects, and between the lines the required information was added in some sympathetic ink. But writing with these or other sympathetic inks is unsafe, because the agents employed to render them visible are too generally known. Hence, the chiffre indéchiffrable, as it is called, has come very much into use, because it is easily applied, difficult to be deciphered, and the key may be preserved in the memory and easily changed. It consists of a table in which the letters of the alphabet, or any other signs agreed upon, are arranged as follow:

z a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d c f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Any word is now taken for a key. The word _Paris_, for example. This is a short word, and for the sake of secresy it would be well to choose for the key some one or more words less striking. Suppose we wish to write in this cypher with this key the phrase, "We lost a battle," we must write _Paris_ over the phrase, repeating it as often as is necessary, thus:

Pa risP a risPar We lost a battle.

We now take cypher for _w_, the letter which we find in the square opposite _w_ in the left margin column, and under _p_ on the top, which is _m_. Instead of _e_ we take the letter opposite _e_, and under _a_, which is _f_; for _l_, the letter opposite _c_, and under _z_, and so on.

Proceeding thus, we should obtain the following series of letters:

mf cxli b tkmimw

The person who receives the epistle writes the key over the letters

P a r i s P a r i s P a r m f c x l i b t k m i m w

He now goes down in the perpendicular line, at the top of which is _p_, until he meets _m_, opposite to which, in the left marginal column, he finds _w_. Next, going in the line of _a_ down to _f_ he finds, on the left, _e_. In the same way _r_ gives _l_, _i_ gives _o_, and so on. Or you may reverse the process; begin with _p_, in the left marginal column, and look along horizontally till you find _m_, over which, in the top line, you will find _w_. It is easily seen that the same letter is not always designated by the same cypher; thus _e_ and _a_ occur twice in the phrase selected, and they are designated respectively by the cyphers _f_ and _w_, _b_ and _k_. Thus the possibility of finding out the secret writing is almost impossible.

The key may be changed from time to time, and a different key may be used with each correspondent. The utmost accuracy is necessary, because one character accidentally omitted changes the whole cypher. The best way of determining the key word is to arrange that any word which occurs at a certain distance from the beginning or end shall be the key word--the tenth from the beginning, for example. The key word will thus change every time, and any combination of letters will make it. This will make it impossible to be guessed.

The easiest method of working this square is to cut a piece of thin wood like a carpenter's square, and by applying it to the alphabet the letter is at once seen in the angle. For example, supposing such a square to be applied so that one side is on the letter _p_ at the top, and the other on the letter _w_ at the left hand, the letter _m_ will be in the angle, so that the trouble of following the lines with the eye will be avoided.

Here is another specimen of secret writing.

A LOCK FOR MR. HOBBS TO PICK.

T:2 21rt:(,)t:2 s21(,)t:2 st1rr6 s,6(,) 1r2 86p : 2rs wr3t 76 : 1-9 93v3-2(,) T : 1t : 1-9 w:38: t5-29 t:23r : 1r ? 4-6(,) 1-9 7192 t:23r v1r329 .!4r325 s:3-2(:) 3- t:2? 22- :21t:2-s 262 ?16 s22 S6?74!s 3- 5-2 .r1-9 tr3t: 84?75-2(;) 76t 3- t:2 744, 40 744,s t:2r2 !32s 1 ,26 34 r219 t:23r ?6st2r32s (.)

T:2- !2t -4t 013t:!2ss t4-.52 19v1-82 3ts s:1!!4w v15-ts(,)-4r s84002r 91r2 5p4- t:2 71sl2 40 3.-4r1-82 T4 r13s2 1 str58t5r2 40 92sp13r(!) T:45.: 044!s ?16 .3v2 t:2 w4r!9s t4 8:1-82(,) 92s3.- 1-9 pr4v392-82 1r2 t:2r2(.) :4w 7!3-929(,)w:4 1t 921t: 1!4-2 T:23r 922p s3.-30381-86 4w-(!)

HERE IS THE ANSWER.

The letters are represented by the figures and symbols below them. With this key the lock may be opened.

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o u y 1 7 8 9 2 0 . : 3 ; , ! ? - 4 5 6

The stops enclosed in brackets, are used in their capacity of stops: thus, (,) (;) &c.

The earth, the sea, the starry sky, Are cyphers writ by hand divine, That hand which tuned their harmony, And bade their varied glories shine; In them e'en heathen's eye may see Symbols in one grand Truth combine; But in the book of books there lies A key to read their mysteries.

Then let not faithless tongue advance Its shallow vaunts, nor scoffer dare Upon the base of ignorance To raise a structure of despair! Though fools may give the world to chance Design and Providence are there: How blinded, who at death alone Their deep significancy own!

THE CIRCULAR CYPHER.

To carry on a correspondence without the possibility of the meaning of the letter being detected, in case it should be opened by any other person, has employed the ingenuity of many. No method will be found more effectual for this purpose, or more easy, than the following.

Provide a piece of square card or pasteboard, and draw a circle on it, which circle is to be divided into 27 equal parts, in each of which parts must be written _one_ of the capital letters of the alphabet, and the &, as in the figure. Let the center of this circle be blank. Then draw another circle, also divided into 27 equal parts, in each of which write one of the small letters of the alphabet, and the &. This circle must be cut round, and made exactly to fit the blank space in the center of the large circle, and must run round a pivot or pin. The person with whom you correspond must have a similar dial, and at the beginning of your letter you must put the capital letter, and at the end the small letter, which answer to each other when you have fixed your dial.

Suppose what you wish to communicate is as follows:

_I am so watched I cannot see you as I promised; but I will meet you to-morrow in the park, with the letters, &c._

You begin with the letter _T_, and end with the letter _m_, which shows how you have fixed the dial, and how your correspondent must fix his, that he may decipher your letter. Then, for _I am_, you write _b uf_, and so of the rest, as follows:

_T b uf lh pumwayx b wugghm lyy rhn ul b ikhfblyx vnm b pbee fyym rhn mh fhkkhp bg may iukd pbma may eymmykl, tw._

_m._

_Another Way._

Take two pieces of card, pasteboard, or stiff paper, through which you cut long squares at different distances. One of these you keep yourself, and the other you give to your correspondent. You lay the pasteboard on a paper, and, in the spaces cut out write what you would have understood by him only; then fill the intermediate spaces with any words that will connect the whole together, and make a different sense. When he receives it, he lays his pasteboard over the whole, and those words which are between crotchets [ ] form the intelligence you wish to communicate. For example: suppose you want to express these words,

"_Don't trust Robert: I have found him a villain._"

"[Don't] fail to send my books. I [trust] they will be ready when [Robert] calls on you. [I have] heard that you have [found] your dog. I call [him a villain] who stole him." You may place a pasteboard of this kind three other ways--the bottom at top--the top at bottom, or by turning it over; but in this case you must previously apprize your correspondent, or he may not be able to decipher your meaning.

SECRET CORRESPONDENCE BY MUSIC.

Form a circle like Fig. 2, divided into twenty-six parts, with a letter of the alphabet written in each. The interior of the circle is movable, like that in Fig. 1, and the circumference is to be ruled like music paper. Place in each division a note different in figure or position.