probably suggest at first view a book, or better a book cover, seen with its back toward you and its sides sloping away from you; but
| Fig. 13. | Fig. 13a. | Fig. 13b. |
| Figs. 13, 13a. and 13b.—The two methods of viewing Fig. 13 are described in the text. Figs. 13a and 13b are added to make clearer the two methods of viewing Fig. 13. The heavier lines seem to represent the nearer surface. Fig. 13a more naturally suggests the nearer surface of the box in a position downward and to the left, and Fig. 13b makes the nearer side seem to he upward and to the right. But in spite of the heavier outlines of the one surface, it may be made to shift positions from foreground to background, although not so readily as in Fig. 13. | ||
it may also be viewed as a book opened out toward you and presenting to you an inside view of its contents. Should the change not come readily, it may be facilitated by thinking persistently of the appearance of an open book in this position. The upper portion of Fig. 9 is practically the same as Fig. 8, and if the rest of the figure be covered up, it will change as did the book cover; when, however, the whole figure is viewed as an arrow, a new conception enters, and the apparently solid book cover becomes the flat feathered part of the
Fig. 14.—Each member of this frieze represents a relief ornament, applied upon the background, which in cross-section would be an isosceles triangle with a huge obtuse angle, or a space of similar shape hollowed out of the solid wood or stone. In running the eye along the pattern, it is interesting to observe how variously the patterns fluctuate from one of these aspects to the other.
arrow. Look at the next figure (Fig. 10), which represents in outline a truncated pyramid with a square base. Is the smaller square nearer to you, and are the sides of the pyramid sloping away from you toward the larger square in the rear? Or are you looking into the hollow of a truncated pyramid with the smaller square in the background? Or is it now one and now the other, according as you decide to see it? Here (Fig. 13) is a skeleton box which you may conceive as made of wires outlining the sides. Now the front, or
