740 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



is well enough for the child, but distasteful and absurd for the man, 

 even though under its symbolic language much truth be hidden. 



In modern art, the " Night " and " Day " by Thorwaldsen, so well 

 known and so much admired, are similar specimens of the " Monstrous 

 in Art " ; the symbolic beauty of the work is such that we do not no- 

 tice the untruth and the impossibility of the wings. The " Theseus 

 slaying the Centaur," by Canova, displays another form of six-limbed 

 monster, whose impossibility is evident after what has been said above, 

 without the excuse of symbolism. In all our large cities we find sym- 

 bolic paintings of an " angel overcoming Lucifer," in which are seen the 

 same feathery pinions, widely spread and in violent action, with no 

 possible means for their support or movement. 



Here, as in many paintings and statues which will readily be brought 

 to mind, as in the wall decorations at Pompeii, the " Victories," etc., 

 we see a pretense of motion more or less active, and a possible use for 

 wings could they exist. But what shall be said of the large and con- 

 spicuous tablets at the corners of the " Museum of Fine Arts " in Bos- 

 ton, in one of which the central and principal figure, styled the " Genius 

 of Art," and so indicated by letters, is one of these impossible winged 

 monsters ? 



The idea, however, is not original, but is an imitation of ancient art, 

 in which a genius or tutelar god of man or his industries is usually 

 represented with wings as well as arms. 



In the above-mentioned tablet we see a nude figure, seated comfort- 

 ably upon a chair, presumably quiet, with outstretched arms welcoming 

 the nations who are bringing their representative works as offerings at 

 the shrine of art ; and yet this *' Genius of Art," not content with arms 

 and legs, at rest, has immense outstretched wings, indicative, if of any- 

 thing, of active motion — anatomically, an impossible six-limbed creature ; 

 physiologically, an absurdity,- implying the contradictory states of rest 

 and motion at the same time ; and, therefore, artistically, an unnatural, 

 nondescript monster. A similar tablet is upon the other corner, if pos- 

 sible, more ridiculous than the first ; the genius of art has found a 

 winged brother monster, called " Industry." The two, each with wings 

 and arms, are quietly seated, with wings widely stretched — we see in 

 this the same anatomical impossibility, the same physiological absurdity, 

 the same degradation of symbolism. As man is never intentionally ab- 

 surd, let us attribute these and similar monstrosities to ignorance of 

 nature's laws. If this be art, there is no gulf of absurdity too wide for 

 symbolism to clear at a single bound. 



Other winged angelic hexapods may be seen at each corner of the 

 tower of the church on Commonwealth Avenue, with trumpets at their 

 mouths ; it is difficult to see how the wings in this case add anything 

 but the ludicrous. 



No permanence of embryonic conditions — no excess of growth, no 

 union of parts of more than one individual — can explain or justify these 



