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THE PLAY OP ANIMALS. 



displays his skill to admiring females does not fail to 

 employ the principles of imitation and decoration. So 

 we find in animals, and especially in birds who, though so 

 distantly related to us, seem by reason of their upright 

 carriage more near, a certain analogy to our own system 

 of arts; indeed, in the simplest phenomena displayed in 

 the animal world we recognise an important suggestion 

 as to the solution of the vexed question of the proper 

 natural division of human arts. The recognition of the 

 three fundamental principles, which are, however, held 

 together to the single one of experimentation, seems to 

 me a gain, as opposed to the one-sidedness of many in- 

 vestigators. This relationship points directly to the fact 

 that all forces efficacious in artistic production are refer- 

 able to the central idea of play, and therefore to an in- 

 stinctive foundation. The following table will make this 

 clear : 



PLAY. 



