Life as a Fine Art. 429 



ABSTRACT OF THE DISCUSSION. 



PROF. ALMON GK MERWIN : 



Mr. Merwin said, in substance : 



It need hardly be said that I heartily appreciate the fine spirit and 

 the suggestive thought which are illustrated in the lecture of the even- 

 ing. It is perhaps unfortunate that in these criticisms we make little 

 remark of the greatness of the truth which is set forth by the speaker, 

 while, by selecting and commenting chiefly upon those points which 

 seem to us open to objection, we unduly magnify what appear to us 

 to be his errors. In these remarks, therefore, I by no means wish to 

 be understood as undervaluing the excellence of thought and the fine 

 literary form of Dr. Janes's lecture. It seems to me, however, that in 

 some of his phraseology, and perhaps also in some of his conclusions, 

 he has departed from the strictly scientific mode of treatment which 

 should characterize these discussions. He has given us poetry instead 

 of scientific evolution. He has made frequent use of the word " in- 

 finite," for example ; but what does the scientific evolutionist know 

 about the infinite 1 He has said that " the art-impulse, spontaneous, 

 vital, creative, breaks through the bondage of constraining legalism, 

 and restores the soul to freedom." What does he mean by this " art- 

 impulse " ? Is it some higher power, some new creation, which revo- 

 lutionizes the nature of man ? He has spoken of this impulse as " au- 

 tomatic." Does this expression truly describe the higher mental ac- 

 tivities ? This is not, as I understand it, the teaching of psychological 

 science or of evolution. The lower organisms possess a greater num- 

 ber of automatic or instinctive functions than does man. How can 

 this fact be reconciled with the lecturer's theory that functions become 

 automatic as they become more perfect! The lecturer speaks of "the 

 ideal " as something which governs the action of the artist. This is 

 true. But what of it? What is an ideal 1 Psychologically, this state- 

 ment only means that the artist's work, like all other voluntary opera- 

 tions, exists in thought before it is realized or objectified. The man 

 who makes a wheelbarrow first conceives of the wheelbarrow in his 

 mind. In other words, he first creates an ideal. The artist only does 

 the same thing. He exercises no new power ; the same faculty which 

 governs his conduct, in some degree governs that of all other men. 

 The lecturer, it seems to me, has drawn distinctions which are not jus- 

 tified by a true psychology. He has given us poetry and rhetoric in 

 the place of cold facts and scientific deductions therefrom. 



