ANIMAL .^.STHETICS 401 



the director of a zoological garden, and the outdoor lore of a 

 forester. And even then he could not round up his labours 

 satisfactorily unless he were familiar with the trend of modern 

 aesthetics." To briefly indicate some of the chief points of con- 

 tact between Biology and /Esthetics is all that can be attempted 

 here, and those who wish to pursue the subject fully are referred 

 to the works of Herbert Spencer, Bain, Baldwin, Romanes, and 

 Lloyd Morgan, as also to Grant Allen's Physiological Aisthetics, 

 Knight's Philosophy of the Beautiftd, Bosanquet's History of 

 /Esthetic, and Groos's Play of Animals. 



No human being or highly -organized animal would be able 

 to live for any length of time, nor would the preservation of its 

 species be possible, if constant adjustment to the surroundings 

 was not brought about by the agency of the nervous system and 

 sense-organs (see p. 2). This is seen, for example, in the utili- 

 tarian significance of pleasure and pain. Pleasure, broadly 

 speaking, promotes actions which conduce to self-preservation 

 and the maintenance of the species, while pain as constantly 

 forbids other actions which would mean self-destruction. Unless 

 pleasure were associated, for instance, with the act of eating, an 

 animal would probably be content to starve, while if contact 

 with burning substances caused no pain it would be very liable 

 to self-cremation. Now there can be no doubt at all that the 

 feelings to which Beauty and Ugliness give rise are simply to 

 be regarded as finer manifestations of pleasure and pain, and 

 since /Esthetics is concerned with such feelings it clearly rests 

 upon a physiological basis. 



The Sense of Sight and its Bearing on ^Esthetics. — 

 We have only to reflect for a moment on the deprivations 

 suffered by a man blind from birth to realize that artistic enjoy- 

 ment depends most upon the sense of sight. And our criteria 

 of what is beautiful in colour, form, and movement have largely 

 been evolved with reference to the animal world, including human 

 beings. To mention examples is unnecessary, for the illustra- 

 tion scheme of this work provides them in abundance. But a 

 few generalities are perhaps desirable. 



No one will deny that the human colour -sense has been 

 largely educated by the materials which flowers provide. But 

 the exquisite tints and colour- schemes of the floral world are 

 strictly utilitarian with reference to plants themselves, being 



