xiv THE PLAY OF ANIMALS. 



culties, and so would lower sensuous aesthetic effects gen- 

 erally. 



Genetically art rests upon play, according to Herr 

 Groos, in that the three great motives of art production, 

 ^' Seli-exhihiiion'' {Selbstdarstelluiig) , "Imitation/' and 

 "Decoration" (Ausschmuckung) , are found in the 

 three great classes of animal plays, respectively, " Court- 

 ing," "Imitation," and "Building Art" {Bauhilnste, 

 seen in birds' nest-building, etc.). On the strength of 

 this. Professor Groos finds both aesthetic appreciation 

 and impulse in the animals, and all rests upon the origi- 

 nal " experimenting " impulse of play. Of this, how- 

 ever, Professor Groos does not give a satisfactory account, 

 I think. Experimenting seems to be a necessary part of 

 effective learning by " imitation," and the use made of it 

 in the selection of movements may be its original use. I 

 have suggested elsewhere ( Social and Ethical Interpreta- 

 tions, sections 98 to 102) some reasons for thinking also 

 that decorative art may have sprung from the " self-ex- 

 hibiting " impulse, thus reducing the aesthetic motives to 

 two. 



On the whole. Professor Groos' book is both a 

 pioneer work and one of great permanent value. In 

 venturing to criticise it I have thought it best to raise 

 points of discussion — even though to a thinker like Pro- 

 fessor Groos they may be trivial and easily answered — 

 as fitted to give to the lay reader a sense of the larger 

 issues for the sake of which, after all, the delightful 

 stories of animal life in the book have been collected by 

 the author. 



J. Maek Baldwix. 

 Princeton, April, 1898, 



