THE ORIGIN OF FRUITS. 611 



seed-eating classes, such as the rodents, the bats, and the quadrumana, 

 we find a profusion of color in many squirrels, flying-foxes, and mon- 

 keys ; while Mr. Darwin does not hesitate in attributing to the same 

 selective action the rosy cheeks, pearly teeth, blue eyes, and golden 

 hair, of the human species. 



Nor is it only in the choice of mates that the nascent taste for 

 color displays itself. Even below the limits of humanity bright-hued 

 objects afford a passing pleasure to more than one aesthetically-endowed 

 species. Monkeys love to pull crimson flowers in pieces, dart in pur- 

 suit of brilliant tropical birds, and are attracted by the sight of red or 

 yellow rags. Those queer little creatures, the bower-birds, carry the 

 same feeling a step further by collecting fragments of brilliantly-col- 

 ored objects to decorate their gaudy meeting-places. But, when we 

 reach the race of man, we find the love of color producing far more 

 conspicuous secondary results. The savage daubs his body with red or 

 blue paint, and plants his garden with the scarlet hibiscus or the pur- 

 ple bougainvillia. Soon, with the rise of pottery and cloth-making, he 

 learns the use of pigments and the art of dyeing. Next, painting 

 proper follows, with all the decorative appliances of Egypt, India, 

 China, and Japan, until at last our whole life comes to be passed in 

 the midst of clothing and furniture, wall-papers and carpets, books and 

 ornaments, vases and tiles, statuettes and pictures, every one of which 

 has been specially prepared with dyes or pigments, to gratify the feel- 

 ing originally derived from the contemplation of woodland berries by 

 prehistoric man, or his frugivorous ancestors. And all these varied 

 objects of civilized life may be traced back directly to the reaction of 

 colored fruits upon the structure of the mammalian eye. 



What a splendid and a noble prospect for humanity in its future 

 evolutions may we not find in this thought that, from the coarse animal 

 pleasure of beholding food, mankind has already developed, through 

 delicate gradations, our modern disinterested love for the glories of 

 sunset and the melting shades of ocean, for the gorgeous pageantry of 

 summer flowers, and the dying beauty of autumn leaves, for the exqui- 

 site harmony which reposes on the canvas of Titian, and the golden 

 haze which glimmers over the dreamy visions of Turner ! If man, base 

 as he yet is, can nevertheless rise to-day in his highest moments so 

 far above his sensuous self, what may he not hope to achieve here- 

 after, under the hallowing influence of those chaster and purer aspira- 

 tions which are welling up within him even now toward the perfect 

 day ! Cornhill Magazine. 



