ANIMAL AESTHETICS 403 



ing to the plants which possess them, being so many baits to 

 attract useful insects. 



One substance used as a sort of basis in the manufacture of 

 perfume, i.e. ambergris, is on an entirely different footing from 

 such things as musk or attar of roses, its properties being, so to 

 speak, accidental. It consists of concretions, which are formed 

 in the intestine of the Sperm- Whale as a result of disease. 



THE SENSE OF TASTE AND ITS BEARING ON ^ESTHETICS. 

 The organs of taste were, in the first instance, undoubtedly 

 evolved in relation to food-testing, a purely utilitarian matter. 

 Adaptation to diets of particular kind would have been difficult, 

 if not impossible, without this, and there would also have been a 

 liability to take in poisonous substances. Pleasurable sensations 

 would gradually come to be associated with the taste of desirable 

 food, and sensations of opposite kind with that of unsuitable 

 aliment, to say nothing of poisons. 



Tastes pure and simple, such as that of sweetness, do not 

 rank very high in the aesthetic scale, but it is otherwise with 

 " flavours ", which are combinations of tastes and odours. The 

 triumphs of the art of cookery, so dear to the gourmand, are of 

 necessity largely based on the properties of animals in the dead 

 state. But this of course is a mere commonplace. 



THE EVOLUTION OF ART AND CERTAIN FORMS OF LITERATURE. 

 In the evolution of ^Esthetics, Groos considers that "play" 

 has been a dominant factor. By Spencer (and Schiller before 

 him) play was regarded as a manifestation of surplus energy, an 

 expression of the "joy of life". But Groos interprets the play 

 of animals as being an instinct whereby preparation is given for 

 the stern realities of existence. A kitten, for example, by play- 

 ing with various objects, including its own tail, acquires fitness 

 for the pursuit of mice. According to this view an animal or 

 young child does not play because it is young, but has a period 

 of youth in order that it may play. Imitation is here of import- 

 ance in helping the acquisition of powers that will later on be 

 useful. Baldwin regards it as standing between instinct and intelli- 

 gence, sometimes promoting the preservation of the former, and in 

 other cases enabling it to be more or less discarded in favour of 

 intelligent actions. Groos summarizes his ideas regarding the rela- 

 tion between play and art in the following table, which, though 

 susceptible of criticism, will serve as the basis for a few remarks. 



