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extent not exceeding the ordinary powers of reparation possessed by the system .” 
Of course it is stated that pleasure and pain are the reflex of the actual 
state of the nerves, and that painful sensations may in their earlier stages 
he pleasurable and vice versa. Moreover, natural selection involves that 
u whatever is prejudicial or beneficial to the organism as a whole, is 
generally painful or pleasurable respectively to the separate organs which it 
is likely to affect. The healthy nutrition of our organs, if not relieved by 
functional activity j (and the same may be said of the tissues and muscles), 
leads to a tendency to exercise the superabundant energy in “ play and 
when “ we similarly exercise our eyes or ears, the resulting pleasure is called 
an aesthetic feeling.” So “ the aesthetically beautiful is that which affords 
the maximum of stimulation with the minimum of fatigue and waste in 
processes not directly connected with the vital functions. The aesthetically 
ugly is that which conspicuously fails to do so, which gives little stimula- 
tion, or makes excessive and wasteful demands upon certain portions of the 
organs. But as in either case the emotional element is weak, it is mainly 
recognized only as an intellectual discrimination. And so we get the idea of 
the aesthetic feelings as something noble and elevated, because they are not 
distinctly traceable to any life-serving function.” The author has a capital 
chapter on taste, which he sums up with a very pertinent joke : u While it 
is true that de gustibus non est disputandum , it is eminently untrue that 
‘ there’s no accounting for tastes.’ ” ^Esthetic education and the total effect 
of the aesthetic environment on happiness, are treated ably, and then the 
author passes on to the consideration of the lower senses in the concrete — 
taste, smell, feeling — and then those of higher import are noticed — hearing 
and seeing. A chapter on mental pleasures and pains is followed by one on 
the simulative arts and poetry. In treating of the influence of rhythm 
and sound in the enjoyment of poetry, the author notices how Milton and 
Tennyson achieve much success in 11 metrical technique and he remarks 
upon the influence of a change of the constituent part of a fixed metre in 
asserting the idea of imitation in the poet’s work, quoting Tennyson — 
u The long brook falling through the cloven ravine, 
In cataract after cataract to the sea.” 
The work concludes with a practical answer to the question which must 
have arisen in the mind of every reader of this work : “ Where, it will be 
asked, in such a system is there room for genius P If poetry consists of 
such special combinations of such special elements, why cannot any man sit 
down and write a great poem P ” The author gives an admirable reply. 
MACHINE DESIGN.* 
A RBITRARY rules for the construction of machines are to be picked up 
in the drawing-office of almost any mechanical engineer. A work on 
machine design might, indeed, be easily compiled by stringing together a 
* u The Elements of Machine Design : an Introduction to the Principles 
which determine the Arrangement and Proportion of the Parts of Machines 
and a Collection of Buies for Machine Design.” By W. Cawthorne Unwin 
B.Sc., &c. London: Longmans. 1877. 
