RESULT OF BEAUTIFUL PROPORTIONS. 419 



also furnish us with the degree of functional and reciprocal relation 

 of the parts. By them we judge of the precision of action, the entire 

 utilization of the force, and the longevity of the machine ; they imply 

 a resultant which, without them, all isolated effects could not attain. 



Sometimes, however, ev^erything seems to be well adjusted in the 

 horse ; vigor, good wind, and energy appear fortunately combined 

 with the elements of form, grace, and elegance ; the animal is brilliant, 

 impetuous, all excitement when taken out ; in his stepping, his move- 

 ments, force, and speed he is second to none ; and yet, we distinctly 

 state, these fine qualities are only the vain appearances of a fictitious 

 ardor, the eye-deceiver of an imaginary power of endurance. 



Similar to a Leyden jar slightly charged, he differs in no way from 

 tiie subject which possesses true endurance. He is no doubt deficient 

 in something ; only this lack is not seen externally, and, on that ac- 

 count, will lead the most skilful into error. He possesses all the 

 materials of power ; their fault consists in not being of a superior 

 quality. The organism has not the fine composition indispensable for 

 the constitution of dynamical or vital equilibrium ; here it has too 

 little, there too much, elsewhere none at all. In reality, the statical 

 conditions are good ; there is sufficient material, whilst there is an ab- 

 sence of certain properties. Levers, muscles, nerves, blood, and wind 

 exist in sufficient quantity, but not with the necessary qualities. There 

 is a harmony of forms, there is no harmony of forces, no free outlet 

 for their manifestation. The muscle is irritable, but its contractility is 

 perhaps too exacting ; the temperament is sanguine, but is too poor 

 in quality ; its composition is wanting in something ; the nervous sys- 

 tem is well constructed, but it is not trained for long action ; the lung 

 is spacious, but its fundamental elements are poorly adapted for the 

 interchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide, etc. We might go on with 

 such suppositions almost ad infinitum. 



Whatever interpretations there may be, no mystery, nothing ex- 

 traordinary or occult, should be imagined to exist in this problem. All 

 these effects have their causes, but all enter into the domain of infinitely 

 small factors, as yet unknown to modern science, which judges of them, 

 on the whole, only by their manner of existence. 



To return to our first comparison. Let us again take our Leyden 

 jar. If we touch it, it will be discharged. The moment afterwards 

 it appears the same as it was before, and yet it no longer contains this 

 imponderable electrical fluid, this particular vibratory movement which 

 it is impossible for our senses to take cognizance of otherwise than by 

 its effects. It is by a fresh electrical shock that we can now distinguish 



