LIFE-FOKM I>r ART. 291 



Another, and a very beautiful class of conventionalisms result from an oj)j)o- 

 site process, viz., by diminishing the numher of the lines of the model, — thus ])re- 

 serving all that is essential to the ajtistic form without violence to nature. The 

 figures of the torpedo* (Fig. 15) on some of the Greek vases may be mentioned in 

 this connection, ^fothing can be more simple than the lines composing this pleasing 

 form — yet all the essential parts of the animal have been I'etained. 



Fig. 15. 



Torpedo from Greek amphora. 



{g.) The Symbol. The most interesting conventionalisms, however, are those 

 arising from a symbolic basis. The forms of ancient symbolism with which we are 

 most familiar, are those belonging to the history of the Indo-Germanic branch of the 

 human race, including some engrafting received from the Chaldean stock.f Since 

 much of the interest in studying symbols is inextricably connected with the meanings 

 originally attached to them, we will begin our remarks with the consideration of 

 one concerning which much is known — the griffin. We made the acquaintance of 

 this form comparatively late in its development, when it is reasonable to suppose 

 that it may have undergone many modifications in form, if not in significance. 

 The gritfin has been traced to an Assyrian source, | whence it appears to have 

 passed westward to Greece, and southward to Persepolis and Babylon, if indeed it 

 may not have passed from the latter place primarily. M. Roulin§ endeavors to 

 trace the griffin to an Indian origin, and asserts that its natural prototype is the 

 tapir (!) (Fig. 16). We are informed by Dennis, || that the Etruscans symbolized 



* Die GattuDg Torpedo in iliren naturhistorischeu und antiquarisclien Beziehungen. J. F. If. v. Olfers, Trans. 

 Berlin Academy, 1831, pi. 3, fig. 3. 



t Rawlinson, Five An. Monarchies, etc., I. c. 



\ Layard, the Monuments of Nineveh, I. c. 



% Roulin, M.— Ann. Sci. Naturelles, 18.'9, vol. XVIII, pi. 5. 



I Etmria, I, 220. 



