"vie with each other in the superlativeness of their own style." Dr. Wilson, in speaking of the compressed skulls of various American races, adds, "such usages are among the least eradicable, and long survive the shock of revolutions that change dynasties and efface more important national peculiarities."[1] The same principle comes into play in the art of breeding; and we can thus understand, as I have elsewhere explained,[2] the wonderful development of the many races of animals and plants, which have been kept merely for ornament. Fanciers always wish each character to be somewhat increased; they do not admire a medium standard; they certainly do not desire any great and abrupt change in the character of their breeds; they admire solely what they are accustomed to, but they ardently desire to see each characteristic feature a little more developed.
The senses of man and of the lower animals seem to be so constituted that brilliant colours and certain forms, as well as harmonious and rhythmical sounds, give pleasure and are called beautiful; but why this should be so, we know not. It is certainly not true that there is in the mind of man any universal standard of beauty with respect to the human body. It is, however, possible that certain tastes may in the course of time become inherited, though there is no evidence in favour of this belief; and if so, each race would possess its own innate ideal standard of beauty. It has been argued[3] that ugliness consists in an approach to the structure of the lower animals, and no doubt this is partly true with the more civilised nations, in which intellect is highly appreciated; but this explanation will hardly apply to all forms of ugliness. The men of each race prefer what they are accustomed to; they cannot endure any great change; but they like variety, and admire each characteristic carried to a moderate extreme.[4] Men accustomed to a nearly oval face, to straight and regular features, and to bright colours, admire, as we Europeans know, these points when strongly developed. On the other hand, men accustomed to a broad face, with high cheek-bones, a depressed nose, and a black skin, admire these peculiarities when strongly marked.
- ↑ 'Smithsonian Institution,' 1863, p. 289. On the fashions of Arab women, Sir S. Baker, 'The Nile Tributaries,' 1867, p. 121.
- ↑ 'The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication,' vol. i. p. 214; vol. ii. p. 240.
- ↑ Schaaffhausen, 'Archiv für Anthropologie,' 1866, s. 164.
- ↑ Mr. Bain has collected ('Mental and Moral Science,' 1868, pp. 304–314) about a dozen more or less different theories of the idea of beauty; but none are quite the same as that here given.
