THE WONDERS OF LIFE 



higher animals and man, and particularly the develop- 

 ment of the special association-centres (thought-centres, 

 reason-sphere) and their differentiation from the inter- 

 nal sense-centres. In this millions of different neurona 

 or psychic cells co-operate, the sensual aestheta acting 

 in conjunction with the rational phroneta, and thus, by 

 complex associations of ideas, much higher and more 

 valuable functions arise. We may indicate four chief 

 groups of this associational or indirect beauty. 5. Bio- 

 logical beauty (the subject of botanical and zoological 

 aesthetics) : the various forms of organisms and their 

 organs (for instance, a flower, a butterfly) excite our 

 aesthetic interest by association with their physiological 

 significance, their movements, their bionomic relations, 

 their practical use, and so on. 6. Anthropistic beauty 

 (the subject of anthropomorphic aesthetics): man, as 

 "the measure of all things," regards his own organism 

 as the chief object of beauty, either morphologically 

 considered (beauty of the whole body and its various 

 organs — the eyes, mouth, hair, flesh-tint, etc.), or physi- 

 ologically (beauty of movements or positions), or psycho- 

 logically (the expression of the emotions in the physi- 

 ognomy). As man transfers to the objective world this 

 personal gratification he experiences from self -considera- 

 tion, and anthropomorphically regards other beings in 

 the light of them, this anthropistic aesthetic obtains a 

 far-reaching significance. 7. Sexual beauty (the subject 

 of erotic aesthetics) : the pleasure is caused by the mutual 

 attraction of the sexes. The supreme importance of 

 love in the life of man and most other organisms, the 

 powerful influence of the passions, the sexual selection 

 that is associated with reproduction, have evoked an 

 infinite number of aesthetic creations in every branch of 

 art relating to the antithesis of man and woman. The 

 special pleasure which is caused by the bodily and mental 

 affinities of the sexes can be traced phylogenetically to 



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