THE SCIENCE OF ART FORM. 685 



Upon that supposition the facts become intelligible; without it the 

 evidence is not easily co-ordinated. This hint, together with the 

 suggestions offered by the periodic law, has made chemists more 

 ready to consider the probable unity of matter, even though actual 

 proof for or against the conception has not yet been attained. 

 That the chemical elements are absolute and final few thinkers 

 of to-day believe; the drift of opinion is mainly in one direction, 

 but no element has yet been decomposed or transmuted into an- 

 other. Some mathematical relations have been found connecting 

 the atomic weights of certain elements with the wave lengths of 

 their spectral lines, and this field of investigation is a promising 

 one for the future. That the atomic weights are connected hardly 

 admits of doubt; to the mass of the atom its rate of vibration must 

 be related; to that vibration the lines in the spectrum are due. 

 The clews are obvious, and it will be strange if they do not lead 

 to important discoveries ere long. 



\To he concluded .^ 



THE SCIENCE OF AUT FORM. 



By D. CADY EATON. 



TASTE is so free and so subjective, so largely a matter of per- 

 sonal feeling, that any selection or limitation of attractive 

 objects would be met by plausible objection. Every honest and 

 unprejudiced investigator must, however, admit nowadays that his 

 individual taste may be informed and purified, and that he is under 

 obligations to be ever ready to explain and to justify it. The day 

 for the mere proclaiming of preference has passed. The procla- 

 mation must be accompanied by explanations which w^ill satisfy 

 others, if they do not convince them, and which will be clear to 

 one's own understanding. The authoritative explanation, " I like 

 this, I dislike that," will no more pass current nor carry weight. 

 Science has sufficiently studied the sentiments and emotions to 

 know that they, too, are subject to laws which must be acknowl- 

 edged and obeyed. Excitations for which there is no reasonable 

 accounting, no justifiable source, must be relegated to the domain 

 of folly. The reason for everything that appertains to thought 

 and emotion, if not apparent, must be exposed and presented. Art- 

 ists must explain their works to vulgar understanding. Writers 

 must make their criticisms plain to the humble intellect. The age 

 in which we live takes nothing for granted, accepts no man's iyse 

 dixit, hates shams, is intolerant of secrecy, hypocrisy, and fraud. 



