38 
constitutes truth, and which the eye of an artist can 
see, is produced with almost the fidelity of a pho¬ 
tograph. The result is a surprising degree of resem¬ 
blance, and consequently of beauty. The botanist 
imagines that he beholds the living plants themselves, 
and the mere artist recognises in every detail forms of 
such exquisite grace as could by no known means 
have been obtained except by the most skilful appli¬ 
cation of the laws of symmetry. 
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