VERONICA. 87 



the same enticements of sweet juices, fragrant 

 scents, and bright colours. Hence it seems 

 natural to conclude that the senses of animals 

 have been evolved in strict correlation with 

 such stimulants, and that the thrill of pleasure 

 which we now derive from beautiful colours 

 is in some degree a vague and persistent 

 echo of feelings long since experienced by 

 our frugivorous ancestors. 



And shall we therefore say with the writer 

 in last week's Nature, which I have brought 

 out in my pocket, ' We are landed at the 

 rather humiliating conclusion that a sense of 

 the beautiful, and an admiration for the forms 

 and colours of nature, is only a strongly 

 developed instinct inherited from the lower 

 animals ? ' Oh no, surely far otherwise. We 

 have not so learned Darwin and Spencer. 

 As just now I read the writer's words, lying 

 here in the sunshine on the bank, I picked 

 this blue speedwell, and gazed closely at it, 

 and I saw denial looking at me from every 

 line on its face. We might as well say that 



