﻿THE 
  FACT 
  OF 
  BEAUTY 
  263 
  

  

  just 
  as 
  the 
  more 
  developed 
  eye 
  or 
  ear 
  carries 
  us 
  farther 
  into 
  

   Nature's 
  refinements 
  and 
  beauties 
  " 
  (1917, 
  p. 
  127). 
  " 
  Phi- 
  

   losophy 
  does 
  not 
  require 
  us, 
  then, 
  to 
  treat 
  the 
  beauty 
  and 
  

   sublimity 
  of 
  natural 
  objects 
  as 
  subjective 
  emotions 
  in 
  the 
  

   bystander: 
  we 
  are 
  entitled, 
  on 
  the 
  principles 
  I 
  have 
  been 
  

   advocating, 
  to 
  treat 
  them 
  as 
  qualities 
  of 
  the 
  object 
  just 
  as 
  

   much 
  as 
  the 
  vaunted 
  primary 
  qualities' 
  ... 
  (p. 
  129). 
  

   " 
  Things 
  are 
  as 
  they 
  reveal 
  themselves 
  in 
  their 
  fullness 
  to 
  

   the 
  knowing 
  mind 
  ' 
  (p. 
  130). 
  

  

  It 
  is 
  highly 
  probable 
  that 
  our 
  likes 
  and 
  dislikes, 
  our 
  

   standards 
  and 
  criteria, 
  have 
  been 
  to 
  some 
  extent 
  wrought 
  

   out 
  in 
  the 
  course 
  of 
  ages 
  of 
  familiarity 
  with 
  Nature. 
  It 
  is 
  

   highly 
  probable 
  that 
  certain 
  arrangements 
  of 
  lines 
  and 
  colours 
  

   please 
  us 
  greatly 
  because 
  of 
  racial 
  and 
  even 
  pre-human 
  asso- 
  

   ciations, 
  for 
  we 
  are 
  strange 
  medleys 
  of 
  organic 
  memories. 
  

   But 
  no 
  one 
  can 
  say 
  that 
  he 
  knows 
  much 
  about 
  this. 
  There 
  

   are 
  some 
  cases 
  of 
  apparent 
  aesthetic 
  delight 
  among 
  animals, 
  

   e.g., 
  that 
  of 
  the 
  Bower-birds 
  which 
  decorate 
  their 
  honey- 
  

   moon 
  bower 
  with 
  brightly 
  coloured 
  objects, 
  apparently 
  pro- 
  

   ductive 
  of 
  pleasant 
  excitement. 
  But 
  we 
  do 
  not 
  wish 
  to 
  

   make 
  much 
  of 
  the 
  rather 
  problematical 
  aesthetic 
  predisposi- 
  

   tions 
  inherited 
  from 
  pre-human 
  ancestry, 
  especially 
  since 
  

   whatever 
  was 
  thus 
  entailed 
  had 
  to 
  pass 
  muster 
  with 
  Man 
  

   himself, 
  had 
  to 
  be 
  assimilated 
  or 
  eliminated, 
  approved 
  or 
  

   rejected 
  by 
  an 
  evolving 
  rational 
  being. 
  Allowing 
  something 
  

   for 
  hereditary 
  associations, 
  we 
  have 
  to 
  face 
  the 
  fact 
  that 
  

   man 
  has 
  a 
  great 
  pleasure 
  in 
  the 
  lines 
  and 
  colours 
  of, 
  say, 
  

   flowers 
  and 
  birds; 
  and 
  our 
  point 
  is 
  that 
  these 
  are 
  not 
  ' 
  any- 
  

   how 
  ' 
  lines 
  and 
  colours, 
  but 
  have 
  a 
  positive 
  quality. 
  

  

  It 
  is 
  worth 
  noting 
  (1) 
  that 
  many 
  quite 
  unfamiliar 
  living 
  

   creatures 
  such 
  as 
  deep-sea 
  animals 
  are 
  recognised 
  at 
  first 
  

   glance 
  as 
  triumphantly 
  beautiful; 
  (2) 
  that 
  it 
  is 
  among 
  the 
  

  

  