218 MODERN IDEAS OF EVOLUTION 



people, so far as art is concerned, separates itself 

 widely from nature and from the mind of the Creator, 

 and its taste and possibly its morals sink to the level 

 of the monsters it produces. Again, we may imagine 

 a people in all respects following nature in a literal 

 and servile manner. Such a people would probably 

 attain to but a very moderate amount of culture but 

 having a good foundation, it might ultimately build 

 up higher things. Lastly, we may fancy a people 

 who, like the old Greeks, strove to add to the copying 

 of nature a higher and ideal beauty, by combining in 

 one the best features of many natural objects, or 

 devising new combinations not found in nature itself. 

 In the first of these conditions of art we have a falling 

 away from or caricaturing of the beauty of nature. In 

 the second we have merely a pupilage to nature. In 

 the third we find man aiming to be himself a creator, 

 but basing his creations on what nature has given 

 him. Thus all art worthy of the name is really a 

 development of nature. It is true the eccentricities 

 of art and fashion are so erratic that they may often 

 seem to have no law. Yet they are all under the rule 

 of nature ; and hence even uninstructed common- 

 sense, unless dulled by long familiarity, detects in some 

 degree their incongruity, and though it may be amused 

 for a time, at length becomes wearied with the mental 

 irritation and nervous disquiet which they produce. 



I may be permitted to add that all this applies 

 with still greater force to systems of science and 



