2 4 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



his studies for the birds of Lis monument upon a golden eagle 

 which was captured there, so art began about the middle of the 

 century to free itself from this dead conventionalism, and, corn- 

 bin in-" truth to Nature with beauty, applied itself again to the 

 rv.it ion and appropriation of the world of living plants 

 ind us. Japanese art long ago struck out the right way in 

 this region, and has been an inspiring motive for us. The minor 

 rations of the house, and the decorations of women's cloth- 

 ing, ha v.- been most happily enriched by it. 



Perhaps the naturalist will be accused of a lack of logical 

 sequence if he, in another direction, renounces regard for the laws 

 of Nature in art. The thousand soaring and flying figures in the 

 art works of ancient and modern times undoubtedly defy the 

 universal and fundamental law of gravitation quite as much as 

 the most offensive creation of a perverted fancy defies the funda- 

 mental laws, vital only in a few adepts, of comparative anatomy. 

 Still, they do not displease us. We should rather see them with- 

 out wings than with paratypical wings which could not be of use 

 when of the usual size and without an immense muscular devel- 

 opment. "We are thus not shocked at the Sistine Madonna stand- 

 ing on the clouds and the figures beside her kneeling on the same 

 impossible ground. The face of Ezekiel in the Pitti Palace is less 

 acceptable. On the other hand, to mention later examples, in 

 the procession of the gods hastening to the help of the Trojans, 

 by Flaxman, Cornelius's Apocalyptic horseman, and Ary Schef- 

 fer's divine Francesca di Rimini, which Gustave Dore* hopelessly 

 tried to rival, our pleasure is not disturbed by the unphysical 

 character of the positions. We likewise do not object to Flax- 

 man's Sleep and Death bearing the body of Sarpedon through 

 the air. 



Herr Exner, in his admirable address on the Physiology of 

 Flying and Soaring in Plastic Art,* tries to answer the question 

 why these impossible representations of conditions never seen 

 in man or beast, appear so natural and unexceptionable. I can 

 not agree in the solution with which he seems prepossessed. He 

 thinks that we experience something similar in ourselves in swim- 

 ming, and that in diving we see persons swimming over us, as 

 we w< raid in flying. If we reflect within how short a time swim- 

 ming has been made more general among civilized men, and 

 recently it has become an exercise of women, who are no less 

 with the soaring figures, doubt arises concerning Herr 

 mert explanation. It would be even hazardous to appeal in a 

 Darwinian fashion to an atavistic impression coming down from 

 the fish ago of man. And are not the sensations and the views 



* Vienna, 1882. 



