C20 



POPULAR SCIENTIFIC LECTURES. 



Hpcctive arrangement ot bis subject, its posi- 

 tion and its aspect, and partly the lighting 

 and shading, in order to give us a directly in- 

 telligible image of its magnitude, its shape, 

 and distance, and how a truthful representa- 

 tion of aerial light is one of the most impor- 

 tant means of attaining the object. 



We then saw that even the scale of lumi- 

 nous intensity, as met with in the objects, 

 must be transformed in the picture to one 

 differing sometimes by a hundredfold ; how 

 here, the color of the object cannot be simply 

 represented by the pigment ; that indeed it 

 is necessary to introduce important changes 

 in the distribution of light and dark, of yel- 

 lowish and of bluish tints. 



The artist cannot transcribe nature ; he 

 must translate her ; yet this translation may 

 give us an impression in the highest degree 

 distinct and forcible, not merely of the ob- 

 jects themselves, but even of the greatly 

 altered intensities of light under which we 

 view them. The altered scale is indeed in 

 many cases advantageous, as it gets rid of 

 everything which, in the actual objects, is 

 too dazzling, and too fatiguing for the eye. 

 Thus the imitation of nature in the picture 

 is at the same time an ennobling of the im- 

 pression on the senses. In this respect wo 

 can often give ourselves up more calmly and 

 continuously, to the consideration of a work 

 of art, than to that of a real object. Tho 

 work of art can produce those gradations of 

 light, and those tints in which the modelling 

 of tho forms is most distinct and therefore 

 most expressive. It can bring forward a ful- 

 ness of vivid fervent colors, and by skilful 

 contrast can retain the sensitiveness of the 

 eye in advantageous equilibrium. It can 

 fearlessly apply the entire energy of powerful 

 sensuous impressions, and the feeling of de- 

 light associated therewith, to direct and en- 

 chain the attention ; it can use their variety 

 to heighten the direct understanding of what 

 ia represented, and yet keep tho eye in a 

 condition of excitation most favorable and 

 agreeable for delicate sensuous impressions. 



If, in these considerations, my having con- 

 tinually laid much weight on the lightest, 

 finest, and most accurate sensuous intelligi- 

 bility of artistic representation, may seem to 

 many of you as a very subordinate point a 

 point -which, if mentioned at all by writers 

 on aesthetics, is treated as quite accessory I 

 think this is unjustly so. The sensuous dis- 

 tinctness is by no means a low or subordinate 

 element in the action of works of art ; its 

 importance has forced itself the more strongly 

 upon me the more I have sought to discover 

 the physiological elements in their action. 



What effect is to be produced by a work of 

 art, using this word in its highest sense ? It 

 should excite and enchain our attention, 

 arouse in us, in easy play, a host of slumber- 

 ing conceptions and their corresponding feel- 

 ings, and direct them toward a common ob- 

 ject, so as to give a vivid perception of all 

 the features of an ideal type, whose separate 

 fragments lie scattered in our imagination 

 and overgrown by the wild chaos of accident. 



It seems as if wo can -only rofcr the freci 

 preponderance, in the mind, of art 

 reality, to the fact that the latter inixcn FCK 

 thing foreign, disturbing, and even injnrk| 

 while art can collect all the element:-! for 

 desired impression, and allow them to 

 without restraint. The power of this 

 pression will no doubt be greater the de' 

 the finer, and the truer to nature is the s( il 

 ous impression which is to arouse the so 

 of images and the effects connected thj 

 with. It must act certainly, rapidly, 

 equivocably, and with accuracy if it is to 

 duco a vivid and powerful impression. Tl 

 essentially are the points which I have 

 to comprehend under the name of int 

 bility of the work of art. 



Then the peculiarities of the paint 

 technique (Technik), to which physiolc 

 optical investigations have led us, are of 

 closely connected with the highest problf 

 of art. Wo may perhaps think that even 

 last secret of artistic beauty that is, 

 wondrous pleasure which we feel in its f>i 

 ence is essentially based on the feeling! 

 an easy, harmonic, vivid stream of our 

 ceptions, v/hich, in spite of manifold chang 

 flow toward a common object, bring to li;I 

 laws hitherto concealed, and allow us to g;| 

 in the deepest depths of sensation of <l 

 own minds. 



ON THE ORIGIN OF THE TLANETAJ 

 SYSTEM. 



I.ECTT7BE DELIVERED IN HEIDELBEEO AND I 

 COLOGNE, IN 1871. 



IT is my intention to bring a subject bef r 

 you to-day which has been much discuss 

 that is, the hypothesis of Kant and Lapla 

 as to the formation of tho celestial bodi< 

 and more especially of our planetary systei 

 The choice of the subject needs no apo 

 In popular lectures, like the present, t 

 hearers may reasonably expect from the le 

 turer, that he shall bring before them wo 

 ascertained facts, and the complete results 

 investigation, and not unripe supposition 

 hypotheses, or dreams. 



Of all the subjects to which the thong;' 

 and imagination of man could turn, the qua 

 tion as to the origin of the world has, sine 

 remote antiquity, been the favorite arena < 

 the wildest speculation. Beneficent ai 

 malignant deities, giants, Kronos who devou 

 his children, Niflheim, with the ice-giai 

 Ymir, who is killed by the celestial Asa? 

 that out of him the world may be construct* 

 these are all figures which fill the cosm 

 gonic systems of the more cultivated of tl 

 peoples. But the universality of the fac 

 that each people develops its own cosmog 

 nies. and sometimes in great detail, is an e 

 pression of the interest, felt by all, in kno^ 

 ing what is our own origin, what is the ull 

 mate beginning of the things about us. Ai 

 with the question of the beginning is close 

 connected that of the end of all things ; f< 

 that which may be formed may also pa 



