CONFERENCE OF DELEGATES. 073 



beauty are thus extended from the few to the many, the people them- 

 selves will guard the goodly heritage. The best method for carrying out 

 this instruction in school is in connection with regional survey. The 

 scenery of the home region has a more than local character, for it is 

 almost an epitome of the scenery of the world, comprising the round of 

 day and night, the response of vegetation to the seasons, forms of cloud 

 common to all countries, the rising and setting of the sun and the revolu- 

 tion of the changeless constellations. Moreover, scenery appeals to the 

 mind as a whole, for everything that we know about an object affects the 

 way in which it appears to the eye, yet the feeling imparted by 

 appearance is not limited by the bounds of knowledge. If the teacher 

 will concentrate upon the perfection of characterisation which brings 

 the understanding of the heart, response among pupils will be wide- 

 spread, for the aesthetic faculty is latent in the generality, not, as the 

 creative power of artistry, an exceptional endowment. Neither do the 

 cares of poverty prevent the mind from dwelling on scenic beauty, as all 

 who have travelled in Japan are well aware. There the coolie, whose 

 standard of living is far below that of our working class, goes on pilgrimage 

 to see each culminating beauty of the seasons, for the birthday of a 

 favourite flower is a religious festival throughout the land. At the back 

 of this are centuries of education in aesthetic perception. 



Those of us who aspire to be instructors in scenic beauty must submit 

 to a certain discipline in order to acquire masteiy of the subject. In our 

 walks abroad we must let busy thought quiet down, that the mood of 

 receptive attention may have full play. Then the whole being can be 

 stirred, for the emotions aroused by scenic harmonies are far from being 

 merely primitive ; they result not only from inheritance but from the 

 sum of all the past feeling, thought and action of a man's own life. It is 

 only the jostling, obtrusive thought of the hour which is eliminated in the 

 contemplative mood. To all who attain this receptive habit, the 

 harmonies of scenery bring an integration of the personality which is 

 beyond the reach of those who neglect the correlation and synthesis of 

 thought and feeling. 



7. The Necessity of Measures for Protecting Scenery. 



Our special function in regard to preservation of scenic beauty is 

 research and education, but both processes require time, and the enemy, 

 ugliness, must be held by a frontal force while we get round the flank. 

 It is universally admitted that there are parts of the country where 

 irreparable damage to scenery is needlessly threatened," and it therefore 

 appears desirable that the British Association for the Advancement of 

 Science should urge His Majesty's Government to stimulate the employ- 

 ment by local authorities of the powers already conferred upon them 

 by Parliament for the preservation of scenic amenity in town and country. 



A resolution to this effect will be proposed and seconded by the next 

 speakers. 



2 It may be well to warn enthusiasts of forestry that if the culminating heights of 

 Down and Moor be planted with trees their beauty as distant sky-line will be com- 

 pletely ruined. 



1928 X X 



