Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 03.djvu/387

DESERTAS 333 DESMIDIACEii; the term desert bears a wholly different interpretation from that usually attached to it in other writings, DESEBTAS, a group of three rocky islets in the Atlantic Ocean, to the S. E. of Madeira, visited at certain sea- sons of the year by fishermen and herds- men. DESICCATION, the evaporation or drying off of the aqueous portion of bodies. It is practiced with fruit, meat, milk, vegetable extracts, and many other matters. It is usually done by a current of heated dry air, and as such may be considered as distinguished from evaporators, so called, to which furnace heat or steam heat is applied. DESIGN, SCHOOLS OF. Prior to mediaeval times every master of a craft and every artist or decorator had in his employ a number of persons who by working on his tasks for small wages learned the secret of his skill. This indi- vidual method of instructing beginners disappeared with the use of the craft guilds which laid down the terms for apprenticeship to a trade in very exact measures and from which no master craftsman was allowed to deviate. From 900 to about 1600 this was the only method of instructing beginners in the methods of design. Instruction was, of course, subsidiary to the main purpose of these regulations which was to en- hance and protect the profits of the guild members. When about the 15th and 16th centuries great artists such as Raphael and Da Vinci drew about them numerous assistants who wished to learn of them, the guild regulations began to be less effective, and in the case of artists dis- appeared entirely. But it was not until the founding of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts by Louis XIV. in 1648 that the modern conception of schools of design was embodied. In this school regular in- struction was offered to students and prizes offered for the best work in paint- ing, sculpture, engraving, architecture, and work in precious stones and metals. The studio work in the Royal Academy remained on the old apprenticeship basis and in painting and sculpture this still remains both in America and in England. Exceptions to the use of this method in the latter two countries are some of the professional schools in America and the South Kensington Schools in ■ ondon. In architecture the apprenticeship system has been replaced in America by the architectural schools. The founding of schools of design was not frequent in Europe until after the expositions of 1851, 1855, and 1865 had shown the superiority of the work of the French artists over those of England and Germany. Then from 1855 to 1880 in England and Germany many schools of design were founded in the great indus- trial centers, and museums of industrial art were opened which have served to stimulate the work of artists. The United States was slower to accept the lessons taught by the great expositions, for it was not until after the Centennial of 1876 that schools of design were opened. Characteristically their founda- tion in the States was not due to govern- ments, national. State or municipal, but largely to the benefactions of wealthy pa- trons. Not until the opening of the 20th century did the governments in the United States take a part in encouraging artists and schools of design, and to a large extent such schools and museums of art are in private hands. Architecture has received the most encouragement of any of the fine arts in America, the schools established by Cornell, Columbia, Harvard, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology compare favorably with the European schools. Technical instruc- tion in industrial art is very general in America, but as yet schools for those in- terested in painting and sculpture can- not compare vnth their European models. Some of the more famous of the schools are the ©cole des Beaux-Arts, National Academy of Design, National Art Schools of South Kensington, Berlin Bau-Aka- demie, and the Vienna Imperial Art Institue. DESMAN, an insectivorous mammal of the shrew family. It is 7 inches in length, tail, 8 inches; the feet are webbed, and the flattened tail is covered with scales; the nose is lengthened into a flexible proboscis. It is found in south- eastern Russia, making borrows in river banks, beginning under water, and as- cending above the level of the highest floods. The food consists of small fishes, frogs, leeches, and larvee of aquatic in- sects. The Mygale Pyrenaica is not much more than half the size of the Russian species; it is found in France. DESMIDIACEJE, a family of con- fervoid algsp, consisting entirely of mi- croscopic 'flexible organisms inhabiting fresh water, scarcely a specimen of which can be found that does not con- tain some of them. Sometimes they adhere in large quantities to aquatic plants, forming green films investing these; at others they rest as a thick coating at the bottom of water, or lie intermingled with confervas, etc. The most distinctive feature in their appear- ance is the bilateral symmetry, indica- tive of the tendency to divide into two valves or segments. Many of the gen- 22 — Vol. Ill — Cyc .