156 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



are in the foreground, and the surfaces are thrown into the distance 

 by the perspective, the picture creates a motor impression and is admired 

 by those with a motor dominance. 



Colored surfaces stop the movement of the eyes and give relief to 

 those with weak muscular adjustments. Lines keep up the muscular 

 tension and give pleasure to those who because of strong eye muscles 

 really enjoy eye tension. The movement and strain force the thought 

 from the line into the indefinite background. We think of what we do 

 not see instead of the surfaces in sight. This gives the basis of clear 

 thought and of idealism. 



The love of color masses may therefore be considered like ornate 

 word expressions, an indication of physical defect. Such people have 

 weak eyes and a shortage, not a surplus, of character. Movement aids 

 motor dominance. An arrest of movement divides up the attention and 

 gives to the disjustive elements of personality a chance for expression. 

 The repressed elements in a motor personality are sex and fear. Sur- 

 faces are pleasurable that excite sex feelings or repress sensations of 

 fear. The dominant surface associations are therefore related to either 

 sex or safety. Eich, deep colors have a sex association, while regularity 

 of outline gives a sense of security. Design might be defined as the art 

 of making timid people feel safe. This end is accomplished by the 

 endless repetition of some elementary figure. If on approaching a 

 building the observer sees a mass of accurate details, he assumes that the 

 floors have been carefully constructed and that the elevator has been 

 recently inspected. Domes always give the same sense of relief. A 

 building with no visible roof gives to timid people a feeling of insta- 

 bility. Eegular fences likewise arouse a feeling of safety. Banks seem 

 to remove the fear of their depositors by supplying a multitude of bars 

 and posts, ostensibly to protect the deposits; but any observant person 

 realizes that the real protection lies in the vaults and not in these shams. 



As I was walking by Columbia University with one of its professors, 

 he said, " Look at that fence. Is not it beautiful ? " " Yes," I replied, 

 "the chickens are safe. But you should remember that farmers now 

 guard their property from sneak thieves by barb wire. Some genera- 

 tions hence your successor will be making the same exclamation you are 

 making, as he gazes at the imitation barb-wire fence which will then 

 surround Columbia." "Was he artistic, or was I? 



The same question of natural artistic appreciation arises when a 

 person from a flat country compares his ideas of beauty with the in- 

 habitant of a mountainous region. I was reared in a part of the West 

 so flat that measurements were needed to find which way the water 

 would run. There were no domed hills to evoke the feeling of safety, 

 or wooded backgrounds to furnish protection from the unknown beyond. 

 The sweep of the eye reached to eternity; parallel lines came together 

 in the dim distance. Such a picture — all lines and no surfaces — makes 



