THE EVOLUTION OF BEAUTY, 



365 



neither monotony nor chaos, discord nor ugli- 

 ness, but only a universal Beauty. 



The human mind, however, as it actually ex- 

 ists, has no such absolute sensitiveness. It is, 

 in fact, sensitive either to variety or to unity 

 only within narrow limits. Whatever groups of 

 phenomena present variations or similarities with- 

 in the range of those limits may be recognized as 

 beautiful, but no others. To the naked eye no 

 differences can be recognized among the minute 

 grains which constitute the seed of the common 

 musk-plant ; and to the ordinary mind there ap- 

 pears at first to be no relationship between four 

 such numbers as 264, 330, 396, 461 ; while the 

 simplest of us can see that the stones on a gravel- 

 walk are not all alike, and that the numbers 2, 4, 6, 

 8, are related to each other by a common law. 



There is no doubt that culture increases the 

 sensitiveness of the mind both to difference and 

 to similarity, and it is certain that the cultured 

 mind perceives more beauty in the universe than 

 the savage or the untaught. But the universal 

 Beauty which exists throughout every corner of 

 creation may be brought within the sphere of 

 man's recognition by changes in the grouping 

 of material forms, as well as by education of the 

 mind. 



Reduce to their simplest form the four num- 

 bers 264, 330, 396, 462, by dividing them by their 

 greatest common measure, namely, 66, and you 

 have the series 4, 5, 6, 7, the relations of which 

 are perceptible at once to the most ordinary 

 mind. Place before a person ignorant of plants 

 the little yellow celandine and a red peony, and 

 he would not recognize any family resemblance ; 

 but fill up the gap between them with a butter- 

 • cup, a globe-flower, and a Christmas rose, and he 

 would perceive the gradation from one to the 

 other and admit the relationship. 



The closer the relationship the more easily is 

 it recognized ; therefore the objects which appear 

 beautiful to human minds must be those in which 

 the parts are closely related, the proportions sim- 

 ple, the design obvious. Among mathematical 

 figures the pentagon is one of the most elegant, 

 .because there is in its outline a sufficient variety 

 with such simple proportions that the unity is 

 easily grasped. The circle also is beautiful, so is 

 the hexagon, the square, and the equilateral tri- 

 angle ; but in each of these the variety is less 

 than in the pentagon. The dodecahedron, of 

 twelve pentagons, is scarcely beautiful, except to 

 a mathematician, because the variety is so con- 

 fusing that part of the unity is lost, and the 

 figure appears almost chaotic. 



Divide a hexagon into six equilateral triangles, 

 and let these be acted upon by an accelerated 

 repulsive force, so that they are driven radially 

 from the centre to distances represented by the 

 numbers 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21. They will then 

 stand in a spiral of such form that the majority 

 of persons would not recognize any law of rela- 

 tionship binding them into one group. Let, now, 

 the repulsive force be changed into an attractive 

 one, whose formula is precisely reversed, and, as 

 the triangles are drawn gradually toward their 

 centre, their relationship will become more and 

 more easily discerned, till, as they close up into 

 the original hexagon, every human mind will per- 

 ceive the unity of the group, and a sense of 

 beauty will inevitably follow. 



It is the character of the centripetal organic 

 wave to be continually simplifying the relation- 

 ship of its component waves with each other, 

 both by concentration and the filling up of gaps ; 

 and it results from this that the nearer any or- 

 ganic wave approaches toward its climax, the 

 closer are the relations of the component waves, 

 and the more readily will its beauty be perceived 

 by the human mind. 



Beauty is thus shown to be an index of or- 

 ganic maturity, and not to depend upon any acci- 

 dental or external influence, but to be inherent in 

 every object, and only unseen during its embry- 

 onic stages. 



The blossoming of plants indicates that the 

 climacteric of their highest secondary life-wave 

 has been attained. From that point reaction 

 and sleep or decay set in. In perennials the 

 great primary life-wave keeps its course through 

 many flowering seasons ; but there comes one 

 season in which its power to blossom is at its 

 height ; this is the ultimate climacteric, and from 

 that point there is gradual decay of the whole 

 organism. 



The specific wave, however, does not termi- 

 nate with the individual. It is carried through 

 the seed from generation to generation, and its 

 climacteric is not reached until the highest blos- 

 soming power of the species has been attained. 

 When this happens the species itself must grad- 

 ually pass away. 



The four great secondary organic waves — the 

 cellular, the osseous, the fibrous, and the nervous 

 — may exist in unequal proportions in a specific 

 wave. The cellular is always first developed, 

 afterward the others in succession. But the 

 grand climacteric of organic development is not 

 attained until all four have reached the highest 

 stage of concentration possible to them ; and it 



