THE ARREST OF THE BODY. Ill 



beyond which development cannot go ? Does it mean 

 that the morphological possibilities along certain lines 

 of bodily structure have exhausted themselves, that 

 the course of conceivable development in these in- 

 stances has actually run out? In Gothic Architec- 

 ture, or in Norman, there are terminal points which, 

 once reached, can be but little improved upon. With- 

 out limiting working efficiency, they can go no further. 

 These styles in the very nature of things seem to have 

 limits. Mr. Ruskin has indeed assured us that there 

 are only three possible forms of good architecture in 

 the world ; Greek, the architecture of the Lintel ; 

 Romanesque, the architecture of the Rounded Arch ; 

 Gothic, the architecture of the Gable. " All the archi- 

 tects in the world will never discover any other way 

 of bridging a space than these three, the Lintel, the 

 Round Arch, the Gable ; they may vary the curve of 

 the arch, or curve the sides of the gable, or break 

 them down ; but in doing this they are merely modi- 

 fying or sub-dividing, not adding to the generic 

 form.' 1 l 



In some such way, there may be terminal generic 

 forms in the architecture of animals ; and the persist- 

 ent types just named may represent in their several 

 directions the natural limits of possible modification. 

 No further modification of a radical kind, that is to 

 say, could in these instances be introduced with- 

 out detriment to practical efficiency. These termi- 

 nal forms thus mark a normal maturity, a goal; 

 they represent the ends of the twigs of the tree of 

 life. 



Now consider the significance of that fact. Nature 

 1 Stones of Venice, n. 236. 



