DREAMS AND ILLUSIONS. 287 



M. Vibraye at Laugerie-Basse, and known by the 

 name of the immodest Venus ; a drawing represent- 

 ing a man, or so-called hunter, armed with a bow, and 

 pursuing a male auroch, going with its head down 

 and of a fierce aspect ; the man is perfectly naked, 

 and wears a pointed beard. Other designs of the 

 chase and of animals afford a clear proof of the remote 

 period at which the primitive instinct towards the 

 imitative arts existed. 



It is peculiar to man to portray things and animals, 

 and to erect monuments out of a superstitious feeling, 

 or to glorify an individual or the nation ; the bower- 

 birds and some cognate species may perhaps be 

 regarded as an exception, since they show a certain 

 sense of beauty, and an extrinsic satisfaction in gay 

 colours, which indeed appears in many animals. But 

 art in the true sense and in its essential principle 

 are the act and product of man alone, of which I 

 have demonstrated the cause and comparative reasons 

 in another work, so that it is unnecessary to repeat 

 them here. Some rare cases indicate an artistic 

 construction which is not an essential part of animal 

 functions, and the sense of form and colour occurs 

 in some species. But this only shows that there exist 

 in the animal kingdom the roots of every art and 

 sentiment peculiar to man, subsequently perfected by 

 him in an exclusive and reflex manner, and this con- 

 firms the general truths of heredity and evolution. 



When primitive man draws or carves objects, he 



