ANIMAL “ASTHETICS” AND “ETHICS” 273 
bird capable of reflection, such an ideal might, in ideational 
sublimation, be derived. Before comparison, abstraction, and 
generalization can be applied, in the reflective laboratory of 
thought, there must be suitable experiences to form the raw 
material on which these rational processes can be exercised. 
Long ere, in the course of mental evolution, the correlative 
conceptions implied in the phrase “ beautiful or ugly” had 
taken definite form, perceptual situations must have arisen, 
where, by direct appeal to the senses, by the diffused effects of 
stimulation and their accompanying feeling-tone, and by the 
natural satisfaction of mere impulse, the foundations were laid 
of that appreciation of the beautiful which forms the reflective 
superstructure we build upon them. Indeed, the pleasure and 
satisfaction attending particular situations, as they severally 
arise, appear to contain the perceptual germs of what in later 
development becomes aesthetic appreciation. 
The bird which, having completed its nest, eyes it with 
apparent satisfaction, may well have the germs of that which, 
when rendered schematic in our thought, we call taste. Dr. 
Gould, indeed, states that certain humming-birds decorate 
' their nests “ with the utmost taste,” weaving into their struc- 
ture beautiful pieces of lichen. And the gardener bower-bird 
collects in front of its bower flowers and fruits of bright and 
varied colours. What meaning these carry in the conscious 
situation we do not know; we can only suppose that they 
incidentally contribute to the heightening of the sexual impulse, 
and have been evolved as a means of stimulation to the bio- 
logical end towards which sexual selection is unconsciously 
directed. For it is probable that all the situations with which 
pleasure and satisfaction are in high degree associated are, in 
primary origin, closely connected with behaviour directed, 
through natural or sexual selection, to some definite biological 
end, or, in brief, with behaviour of biological value. And it is, 
perhaps, not improbable that the states of consciousness most 
highly toned with strong emotion have their origin in those 
situations which arise amid the pairing, parental, and com- 
paniable relations of animal life. 
T 
