202 LOOSE THOUGHTS ON THE CAUSE OF 



exist, is certainly incorrect. He divides them into even, uneven, 

 angular, and waving or winding ; and each of these kinds he sub- 

 divides into fine and strong. Fine and strong have nothing at all 

 to do with the question, although he mates it a great consideration ; 

 for the outline of an object is, to all intents and purposes, a mathe- 

 matical line, " length without breadth." He supposes fine and 

 waving lines the most beautiful, because they are expressive of de- 

 licacy and ease. It is just possible the cause arises from the mecha- 

 nical action of the muscles of the eye.* 



As beauty lies not in any inherent quality of the object itself, but 

 in the power of its combined expressions to excite the imagination 

 to the prosecution of a regular train of ideas, the first thing to be 

 considered, in investigating the causes of the beauty of a building, 

 must be the nature of these expressions. 



The expressions of which a work of Architecture is susceptible, 

 may be divided into — First, The physical or nalural expression of 

 the vutlerial. Although no great source of beauty in itself, this ex- 

 pression is certainly a concomitant, and one which cannot be over- 

 looked : for instance, a building of stone has a much greater expres- 

 sion of strength and durability than one of cement ; and one of 

 cement has a moi"e cheerful and finished expression than one of 

 brick. With the progress of science and philosophy the mode of 

 construction and our ideas of durability will be gradually changed 

 in proportion to our advance in the knowledge of the nature of ma- 

 terials ; therefore this expression is not a lasting one. Thus, in 



" " Reasons tchi/ Arcs of Ellipses or Circles are pleamig lo the Eye. — Profes- 

 sor ]Muller, of Berlin, has, hi a late course of lectures, otFered a simple and 

 mechanical explanation of the universal admiration bestowed on these 

 curves. ' The eye,' he observes, ' is moved in its socket by six muscles, of 

 which four are respectively employed to raise, depress, and turn to the right 

 and to the left, the other two having an action contrary to one another, and 

 roll the eye on its axis, or from the outside downwards and the inside up- 

 wards. On an object being presented to the eye for inspection, the first act 

 is chcumvision, or going roiuid the boundary lines so as to bring consecutive- 

 ly every individual portion of the circumference upon the most delicate and 

 sensitive portion of the retina. Now, if figures bounded by straight lines be 

 presented for inspection, it is obvious that but two of three muscles are re- 

 quired ; and it is equally evident that in curves of a circle or ellipse all must 

 alternately be brought into action. The effect, then, is that, it only two be 

 employed, as in rectilinear figures, these two have an undue share of labour. 

 And bv repeating the experiment frequently, as we do in childhood, the no- 

 tion of tedium is instilled, and we form gradually a distaste for straight lines, 

 and are led to prefer those curves which supply a more general and equable 

 share of work to the muscles.' " — Mechanic's Magazine, Feb. 4, 837- 



