THE FACT OF BEAUTY 275 



the wobbling pig. But the general fact unquestionably is 

 that the movements of wild animals are eurhjthmic. We 

 like them primarily because they set up a pleasant internal 

 mimicry of eurhythmic movements within ourselves. We 

 admire the fitness of the structure to the movements; an 

 accompanying song may increase the thrill; we add the 

 imaginative touch ; the lark is at heaven's gate and we with it. 



8. Biological Significance of Beauty to the Beautiful 

 Organisms themselves. 



The question now rises whether the combinations and 

 arrangements of lines and colours in organisms which mean 

 so much to us mean anything physiologically in their pos- 

 sessors. Is there any deep reason behind them? (a) In 

 some cases the answer is easy, for the arrangements are ob- 

 viously useful in giving stability of architecture, in reduc- 

 ing friction, and in economising materials. Thus one of 

 the most exquisite structures in the world is the flinty skel- 

 eton of Venus' Flower Basket (Euplectella) ; and the ex- 

 perts say that the architecture of this is very perfectly 

 adapted to stand such strains as are put on it as it rises 

 like a fairy palace from the floor of the deep sea. A spirally 

 coiled tendril is a pleasing object, and we know that it is 

 directly useful in its formation by drawing the climbing 

 plant closer to its support and afterwards by forming a 

 spring which yields to the wind but does not break. The 

 green pigment of a leaf is well known to be the most useful 

 non-living substance in the world, but though the greenness 

 is somehow wrapped up with its chemical composition it 

 might conceivably have worked just as well had it not been 

 green. On the other hand, colour is often of direct external 

 utility in giving the animal a garment of invisibility, or in 



