ALISONIAN THEORY OF BEAUTY.

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sweet sounds, and pleasing effects of light and colour, in which the pleasure is owing to a direct and immediate action of the objects upon the organs of sense, and these pleasurable feelings never fail to be produced when we are in a condition to enjoy them. There would be nothing permanently or generally pleasing if we had not a certain number of such primary sources of enjoyment.

The doctrine of Alison satisfactorily explains the strong effects often produced on our minds by sensations and objects in themselves indifferent or wholly unequal to those effects. A few instances of this nature may be quoted as true examples of borrowed or associated emotion. To take the case of sounds: All sounds,' says Mr. Alison, are in general SUBLIME, which are associated with ideas of great Power or Might; the Noise of a Torrent; the Fall of a Cataract; the uproar of a Tempest; the Explosion of Gunpowder; the Dashing of the waves, &c.' Most of these sounds, however, are intrinsically impressive from their intensity and volume, and the effect that they have on the mind is not wholly due to association. The following is a better selection for the purpose in hand. That the Notes or Cries of some Animals, are Sublime, every one knows; the Roar of the Lion, the Growling of Bears, the Howling of Wolves, the Scream of the Eagle, &c. In all those cases, those are the notes of animals remarkable for their strength, and formidable from their ferocity.' In like manner, the Author exemplifies associations with the feeling of Beauty, as follows:-'The Bleating of a Lamb is beautiful in a fine day in spring; the Lowing of a Cow at a distance, amid the scenery of a pastoral landscape in The Call of a Goat among rocks is strikingly beautiful, as expressing wildness and independence. The Hum of the Beetle is beautiful on a fine summer evening, as appearing to suit the stillness and repose of that pleasing season. The Twitter of the Swallow is beautiful in the morning, and seems to be expressive of the cheerfulness of that time.' A similar illustration can be derived from Colours and appearances to the eye. The impressive emotion roused by the discharge of thunder can be evoked by the

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transient flash in the window, an effect in itself very trivial, but able to recal the grander features of the phenomenon, and through these the emotion that we call the sublime. The relics of a storm, seen in the disorder and wreck, recal the feeling impressed by the height of its fury. The language that describes such phenomena, when aptly used, can arouse the emotions purely by the force of association. In proportion to the strength of the emotion, or of that feature of it that arrests and engrosses the mental movements, is the firmness of the adhesive link between it and those various accessories. Hence the very great influence of an element of awe, in such cases. Terror in every form is an engrossing passion, and lends this power to all emotions that it mixes with.

Alison extends the illustration of his doctrine to Forms and Motions as well as sounds and colours, and supplies examples in great abundance under all these heads. I believe he has here too in many instances put forward intrinsic effects as the effects of association, but, nevertheless, he has left no room for doubting that the associating principle operates largely in clothing indifferent objects with a power to raise emotion in the mind of the beholder.

There is, I am satisfied, a primitive influence in Form to produce a certain amount of emotion of the kind that enters into the compositions of Art. Curved forms and winding movements yield of themselves a certain satisfaction through the muscular sensibility of the eye. Yet we must add to this original impressiveness an influence of association; namely, the connexion of Ease and abandon with the curving line, and of Constraint with the straight line. The free movements of the arm make circular figures; to draw a straight line requires a painful effort.

In everything of the nature of a Tool or a machine, there are certain appearances that are pleasing to behold, as suggesting Fitness and Ease in their application to the end. A clear polish upon steel has this effect, while red rust is painful from the suggestion of a harsh grating action. So the absence of noise in the working of a machine gives us the agreeable feeling of smooth, easy action.

READING. OF EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION.

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Before passing from this subject, I may remark that there is a certain refining effect frequently produced by keeping the original cause of a feeling at a distance, and viewing it thus through a medium. Thus the sensation of healthy functions is one of our principal enjoyments; the hue and fulness that are the outward aspect of health are pleasurable by association, and according to Alison are beautiful; the one degree of remove from direct consciousness converts a sensual pleasure into a sentimental one. Waving corn-fields, heavy and ripe, are agreeable objects by association with the supply of our bodily wants, and the delight is refined upon by keeping at some distance the actual and ultimate sensations that give all the force to the appearance. A feeling that in the reality would be called by comparison gross and sensual, becomes sentimental when the mind has some intervening object to rest upon.

50. The reading of Emotional expression.—An interesting case of associated feeling is our being able to interpret the signs of feeling in our fellow-beings, by which we are not merely made aware of their state of mind, but also derive a large amount of pleasurable and painful feeling in ourselves. The influence of the smile or the frown, so powerful in human life, is purely an associated influence. There is nothing intrinsic in the lines and forms of feature displayed in the act of smiling to cause the pleasure occasioned by this manifestation. Incidentally fine forms and curves may be produced in a face, and there may be a display of beautiful tints over and above, but when these things occur they make so much additional pleasure, they do not originate the pleasing effect of the act itself.

The meaning of a smile, together with the susceptibility to the cheering influence of it, are learnt among the early acquisitions of infancy. The child comes to see that this expression accompanies the substantial pleasures that need no association to give them their character. The smile of the parent, or of the nurse, means all the agreeables of food, dress, play, spectacle, excitement, society. The frown is as invariably connected with privation and pains. An enduring

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association thus obtains between one cast of feature and all the good things of life, and between another expression and the ills that human power can inflict; and hence the one is able to diffuse a gladdening influence, while the other tends to excite a feeling of depression and gloom. All through life we are subject to these influences of associated emotion. So there are tones of voice that in the same way can cause pleasure or pain by a power of suggestion. In this case, however, there is a certain intrinsic efficacy in the tones usually adopted to convey the intended effect. For conveying love and approbation we choose our soft and gentle tones; for the opposite we are led both by passion and by choice to use tones that are painful and grating. I cannot discern any original or intrinsic difference of effect between pleased and angry features, but in vocal utterance there is a manifest suitability of some tones for pleasing expression, and of others for the reverse.

There are many of our strong likings on the one hand, and strong antipathies on the other, that come under the class of reflected influences. The sight of blood affects some persons to fainting, which cannot be owing to anything in the mere appearance of it; apart from association, the rich scarlet hue would make this a really agreeable object to the eye.

ASSOCIATIONS OF VOLITION.

51. I have already adverted to the mistake committed by Reid in pronouncing the voluntary command of our limbs and other moving organs instinctive. If we observe the movements of infancy, we see plainly that for many months there is no such thing as a command of the active members in obedience to an aim or purpose present to the mind. An infant may have sufficient intelligence to form a wish, and be quite unable to execute the simplest movements for attaining the thing wished. A common example of this is the attempt to seize something with the hand, as a spoon; we see the most awkward movements occurring, evidently from the entire want of any definite direction of the limbs at that stage.

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This definite direction is acquired; and the acquisition is the most laborious and difficult of all human attainments. The performance of the simple movements that we wish to perform, is the basis of our acquirement of more complex movements at a subsequent stage; but our first education is selfeducation. Until a child can of its own accord put its hand out and seize an object before its eyes, which for the first few months it cannot do, any attempt to direct it is in vain; and until of its own accord it can move its own body as it sees something else moved, it has not begun to be an educable being.

The voluntary command of the organs implies the following things. 1st. The power of continuing or abating a present movement in obedience to a present feeling, as when the child sucks while the appetite is gratified, and ceases when satiety comes on. This is a primary fact of the human constitution; it exists from the commencement of sentient life, and is not communicable by any known method. So far, therefore, Volition is an Instinct. 2ndly. The power of beginning a movement in order to heighten or abate a present feeling, as when the child directs its head and mouth to seize the nipple, and begins sucking. There may be a few instances of instinctive movements of this kind, but in general they are acquired, being determined by means of association. The coincidence of the movement and the feeling must be first accidental; the movement springing up of its accord, and finding itself able to control the feeling, the two become after a time so firmly connected that the one suggests the other. Thus the movement of the eyes and head is at first spontaneous, but the agreeable feelings of light brought on by these movements prompt their continuance, and the pleasure gets to be associated with these movements; whereupon when this feeling is present to the mind as a wish, it prompts the requisite exertions. Thus it is that a child learns to search out a light in a room in order to enjoy the maximum of the illumination; it learns to turn its view to the fire, or the window, or some face that it has begun to recognise agreeably. Volition means, 3rdly, the performance of some intermediate actions in order