i.l 7_!. tin- path -rn of fig. 2 will be produced. This patt in. 

 on the other hand, makes an undeniable "aesthetic" impression. 

 In tin same way the particular effect of the patterns of wallpapers, 

 t drapery-, or dress-materiaK is produced, and also that of the 

 svinnietiical ornaments which are met with more particularly in 



cla->ie architecture. 



In the well-known mirror-caleidoscopes, the surprising and very 

 iititul effects are 



'.ained by means of 

 tin- repeated reflection 

 in regularly arranged 

 little mirrors. 



A number of insig- 

 nitieant pieces of co- 

 loured glass which are 

 thrown together by 

 mere chance, will ho- 

 wever now seem to 

 be purposely arranged 

 and combined in beau- 

 tifully shaped, coloured 

 j Bitterns. Here also the 



-thetic action is cau- 



<l exclusively by the 

 regular repetition of the 

 same arbitrary figure. The splendour and fascinating beauty of a 

 great number of livin'g creatures: radiolaries, medusae, diatomeae, 

 corals, star-fishes, of innumerable flowers; that of the brilliant 

 forms of many crystals and of the figures produced by vibrating 

 membranes (eidophone) or metalplates (Chladni), etc. 1 ) -- are in 

 each case caused by the mere action of symmetrical repetition. 

 Indeed, the principle of form-symmetry in its strict formulation, 

 has been neglected too long already in the morphological and 

 systematical description of the biological sciences; or at least: 

 its scanty applications have been too rudimentary and insuffi- 

 cient in almost all cases. In this respect it is most necessary 

 that the obsolete and unwieldy definitions of form still in vogue 



Fig. 2. 



. Vid. Newton, Harmonic Vibrations. Remarkable symmetrical figures 

 be obtained e.g. with J. Goo Id's elliptic pendulum. 



