THE ARTS AND RELIGION 259 



muscle and joint senses. Hence we should expect 

 that the aesthetic products based on them, as, for 

 instance, painting and music, would transcend 

 dancing in expressiveness. The retina, the instru- 

 ment for the distinction of luminous waves of vary- 

 ing lengths and innumerable color tints as well as the 

 receptor of form images (dependent on gradations of 

 light and shade), receives those pictures of the exter- 

 nal world on which are constructed all works of 

 painting and sculpture. These pictures are carried 

 to the central nervous system by direct and crossed 

 pathways, and not merely rise into consciousness, but 

 leave residua which may be revived under certain 

 conditions. The visual receptive apparatus be- 

 comes so practiced through multitudinous experi- 

 ences that it has the power of apprehending and 

 reconstructing entire objects or even complexes of 

 objects from partial views of them. There are two 

 peculiarities of the visual apparatus and tracts which 

 exert a fundamental determining effect on the qual- 

 ity of the impressions received by the eyes. One 

 is the faculty of stereoscopic vision, subserved as it 

 is by a definite muscular mechanism, which permits 

 the estimation of the distance of objects and hence 

 the appreciation of form and the quality of surfaces. 

 By this faculty of vision the artist is given an analyt- 

 ical power which is essential to that just imitation 

 of nature which is a feature (though not the sole 

 ideal) of his work. Stereoscopic vision, however, 

 does not help the observer of paintings, but may 

 rather hinder him. 



