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  THE 
  FACT 
  OF 
  BEAUTY 
  

  

  butions 
  Biological 
  Science 
  has 
  to 
  offer 
  to 
  a 
  general 
  view 
  

   of 
  the 
  world, 
  and 
  it 
  is 
  impossible 
  for 
  biologists 
  to 
  pass 
  over 
  

   the 
  pervasiveness 
  of 
  beauty 
  in 
  the 
  realm 
  of 
  organisms. 
  We 
  

   cannot 
  say 
  that 
  science 
  is 
  required 
  to 
  discover 
  this 
  beauty 
  

   in 
  its 
  obvious 
  expressions 
  in 
  bird 
  and 
  flower, 
  but 
  its 
  luxuri- 
  

   ance 
  in 
  the 
  unobtrusive, 
  in 
  the 
  well-concealed, 
  in 
  internal 
  

   and 
  microscopic 
  structure, 
  and 
  among 
  the 
  unicellulars 
  cannot 
  

   be 
  discerned 
  without 
  scientific 
  investigation. 
  If 
  the 
  popular 
  

   impression 
  be 
  that 
  beauty 
  is 
  the 
  exception, 
  the 
  scientific 
  im- 
  

   pression 
  is 
  that 
  beauty 
  is 
  the 
  rule. 
  For 
  a 
  long 
  time, 
  perhaps 
  

   till 
  the 
  middle 
  of 
  the 
  19th 
  century, 
  Beauty 
  was 
  very 
  gen- 
  

   erally 
  spoken 
  of 
  as 
  a 
  quality 
  of 
  the 
  exotic 
  the 
  orchid 
  and 
  

   the 
  Bird 
  of 
  Paradise 
  now 
  we 
  feel 
  it 
  most 
  at 
  our 
  doors. 
  St. 
  

   Peter's 
  lesson 
  has 
  been 
  learned, 
  for 
  we 
  find 
  nought 
  common 
  

   on 
  the 
  earth. 
  As 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  poets 
  says, 
  " 
  Beauty 
  crowds 
  us 
  

   all 
  our 
  life." 
  Moreover, 
  sound 
  science 
  tells 
  us 
  much 
  that 
  is 
  

   very 
  interesting 
  regarding 
  the 
  beautiful 
  and 
  intensifies 
  our 
  

   appreciation 
  of 
  its 
  significance. 
  

  

  2. 
  General 
  Characteristics 
  of 
  the 
  Esthetic 
  Emotion. 
  

  

  We 
  mean 
  by 
  the 
  beautiful 
  that 
  which 
  excites 
  in 
  us 
  the 
  

   particular 
  kind 
  of 
  emotion 
  which 
  we 
  call 
  aesthetic. 
  This 
  is 
  

   experienced 
  in 
  many 
  degrees 
  of 
  intensity 
  and 
  of 
  purity, 
  but 
  

   it 
  is 
  distinctive. 
  The 
  aesthetic 
  emotion 
  is 
  not 
  excited 
  by 
  

   touch, 
  taste, 
  or 
  smell. 
  The 
  aesthetic 
  emotion 
  is 
  an 
  end 
  in 
  

   itself, 
  like 
  intellectual 
  contemplation, 
  though 
  it 
  may 
  liberate 
  

   Man's 
  formative 
  impulse. 
  It 
  grips 
  us 
  as 
  organisms, 
  l 
  body 
  

   and 
  soul 
  ' 
  at 
  once, 
  and 
  abides 
  with 
  us 
  incarnate. 
  The 
  thing 
  

   of 
  beauty 
  is 
  a 
  joy 
  for 
  ever. 
  Prof. 
  B. 
  Bosanquet 
  points 
  out 
  

   (1915) 
  that 
  aesthetic 
  feeling 
  has 
  qualities 
  of 
  permanence, 
  rel- 
  

   evance, 
  and 
  community. 
  That 
  is 
  to 
  say, 
  it 
  brings 
  no 
  satiety; 
  

   it 
  is 
  annexed 
  to 
  particular 
  qualities 
  not 
  a 
  feeling 
  of 
  general 
  

  

  