822 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



sonal qualities contribute to their success ; but in this case there 

 is no possible connection between the disposition of the cards and 

 the qualities of the player. These associations are generally based 

 upon supposed experiences, in which, besides the impossibility of 

 securing exact observations, we commit the mistake of confound- 

 ing coincidences with causal relations. We need not be surprised 

 at them. They are incident to the relations of men with one an- 

 other, and are confirmed by false observations and tradition, and 

 they are what give its special character to each epoch. 



These typical errors are not only met in the domain of common 

 life ; preserving their character, they possess the highest spheres 

 of our activity, art and science ; and in those domains we can see 

 the fundamental difference between these two modes of the mind's 

 action. While in science, the object of which is the truth, every 

 error involves mischievous consequences, in art, which looks to 

 the beautiful, illusion has full play, and in many instances even 

 forms the basis of the best conceptions. Thus, in architecture, a 

 balcony supported on slender bars of iron does not offer a pleasant 

 appearance to us, while we are ready to admire the same structure 

 if it rests upon shapely brackets of stone projecting to an equal 

 distance from the wall. The apparent disproportion between the 

 structure and the support in the former case is an artistic fault. 

 It does not lie, however, in the calculations of the architect, which 

 may be perfect, but in the " instinctive " judgment of the speaker. 

 The prejudice is so general that architects often dress slender sup- 

 ports of iron with false brackets of plaster that will convey a more 

 agreeable impression. 



The psychological origin of this prejudice is found in our 

 familiarity, from experience, and from having seen it used in 

 buildings, with the solidity of stone, while we are not so well ac- 

 quainted with the equivalent strength of less massive iron. In 

 most cases the impression of solidity agrees with the sense of 

 beauty, while the apparent disproportion of iron supports grates 

 upon it. The balcony continues to look unwieldy even after we 

 have become assured that the iron bars are amply strong. Our 

 sense of beauty, therefore, rests upon an illusion in the presence 

 of which it can not adapt itself to the particular case ; but it is an 

 illusion that every artist ought to regard. Such illusions are 

 common in all art. 



The proposition, " Style is the concordance of an artistic work 

 with the history of its development, with all the circumstances of 

 its production/' which is elucidated in Gottfried Semper's work 

 on " Style," defines the psychologic basis of every artistic produc- 

 tion. For a work can have style only as it is in harmony with 

 the mass of associations, mostly unconscious, which the spectator 

 forms on the subject of its composition. This is why a majolica 



