the ball and socket joint will need to be replaced by a gambrel joint like a ship’s compass, and arranging the bent driving arms as shown in Fig. 3; then the driving end of the connecting frame will move about in a true circle, producing as great a tendency to turn the driving wheel in one position as another.  In this arrangement there must be at least six nicely fitted journals and their bearings, four of which will be required to take care of the forked connecting rod that joins the wheels together.  Besides all this the bearings must all line up with the same center that the shafts are centered from or there will be a “pinch” somewhere in the system.  It may seem at first that there must be more or less end-on movement provided for, and that the bearings should be spherical; but that it is not the case will be noticed when all the points are understood to be working from one center similar to that provided for in bevel gears.—­Boston Journal of Commerce.

[Illustration:  FIG. 3.]

* * * * *

THE DECORATIVE TREATMENT OF NATURAL FOLIAGE.[1]

  [Footnote 1:  Lectures before the Society of Arts, London, 1891.]

By HUGH STANNUS.

Lecture I.

Sec. 1.—­THE ELEMENTS OF DECORATION.

The chief impelling Motives which have caused that treatment of objects which is now termed Decorative, have been: 

    (a) That necessitated by the Usage, which is FUNCTIONAL;

    (b) That resulting from the Instinct to please the eye, which
    is AESTHETIC;

    (c) That arising from the Desire to record or to teach, which
    is the DIDACTIC motive;

The AESTHETIC instinct of the early peoples was gratified by: 

    (a) The forms of their weapons or tools;

    (b) The patterns with which they are decorated;

    (c) The imitation of the surrounding animals, e.g. the Deer
    scratched on the horn at the British Museum.

Imitation was afterward applied to the vegetable creation; and much of what is termed Ornament was derived from that class of elements.

The ELEMENTS OF DECORATION are the material used by the Artist.  They might be considered to include everything that is visible; but since Decoration is a result of the aesthetic instinct, the field is narrowed to such as are pleasing at the first glance.  And the selection is further limited to such as are suitable to the shape and size of objects.

They may be classified according to their relative Dignity, as follows: 

   The Human form,
   Animal forms,
   Natural foliage,
   Artificial objects,
   Artificial foliage, and
   Geometrical figures.

Sec. 2.—­THE TWO KINDS OF FOLIAGE.

A Distinction is made between natural and artificial foliage.  They have much in common; and consequently many have supposed that our Western artificial foliage is merely a very-much-conventionalized version of natural foliage.  The supposition is correct with regard to Eastern Pattern work, but not in Western Architectural ornamentation.