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multiplicity, from simplicity 
to complexity which so 
appears to be universal 
throughout nature, and of 
which a tree is the perfect 
symbol. 
The body is rich in those 
veiled repetitions, echoes, 
consonances—or whatever 
they may be called—which 
are observed elsewhere in 
nature and in art. The 
head and arms are in a 
sense a refinement upon 
the trunk and legs, there 
being a clearly traceable 
correspondence between 
their various parts. To 
the trunk are attached four 
limbs and a head, and to 
the palm, four fingers and a 
thumb. Each finger is a little arm and each 
finger-tip a little palm; the lips are the lids 
of the mouth, the lids are the lips of the 
eyes,—and so on. 
The law of rhythmic 
diminution is illustrated in 
the tapering of the entire 
body and of the limbs, in the 
graduated sizes and lengths 
of the fingers and the toes, 
and in the successively 
decreasing lengths of the 
palm and of the joints 
of the fingers, so that in 
closing the hand the fingers 
describe natural spirals. 
The relation between 
these laws of beauty and the 
art of architecture has been 
sufficiently dwelt upon in 
preceding essays. They 
are mentioned again in this 
connection only for the 
purpose of reminding the 
reader that man is indeed 
the microcosm,—a little world fashioned from 
the same elements and by the same laws as is 
the great world in which he dwells. 
There are few more profitable exercises 
THE EGYPTIAN TEMPLE OF ABU-SIMBEL 
193 
