An Inquiry into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue. Francis Hutcheson

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      Plants.

      VII. If we descend to the minuter Works of Nature, what ||²⁵vast|| Uniformity among all the Species of Plants and Vegetables in the manner of their Growth and Propagation! ||²⁶what exact|| Resemblance among all the Plants of the same Species, whose Numbers surpass our Imagination! And this Uniformity is not only observable in the Form in gross; ||²⁷nay, in this it is not so very exact in all Instances||, but in the Structure of their ||²⁸minutest Parts,|| which no Eye unassisted with Glasses can discern. In the almost infinite Multitude of Leaves, Fruit, Seed, Flowers of any one Species, we ||²⁹often|| see ||³⁰an exact|| Uniformity in the Structure and Situation of the smallest Fibres. This is the Beauty which charms an ingenious Botanist. Nay, what ||³¹vast|| Uniformity and Regularity of Figure is found in each particular Plant, ||³²Leaf||, or Flower! In all Trees and ||³³most of the|| smaller Plants, the Stalks or Trunks are either Cylinders nearly, or regular [23] Prisms; the Branches similar to their several Trunks, arising at nearly regular Distances, when no Accidents retard their natural Growth: In one Species the Branches arise in Pairs on the opposite Sides; the perpendicular Plain of Direction of the immediately superior Pair, intersecting the Plain of Direction of the inferior, nearly at right Angles: In another species, the Branches ||³⁴spring|| singly, and alternately, all around in nearly equal Distances: And the Branches in other Species ||³⁵sprout|| all in Knots around the Trunk, one for each Year. And in ||³⁶every|| Species, all the Branches in the first Shoots preserve the same Angles with their Trunk; and they again sprout out into smaller Branches exactly after the Manner of their Trunks. Nor ought we to pass over that great Unity of Colours ||³⁷which we often see|| in all the Flowers of the same Plant or Tree, and often of a whole Species; and their exact Agreement in many shaded Transitions into opposite Colours, in which all the Flowers of the same Plant generally agree, nay often all the Flowers of a Species.

      Animals.

      VIII. Again, as to the Beauty of Animals, either in their inward Structure, which we come to the Knowledge of by Experiment and long Observation, or their outward Form, we shall find ||³⁸vast|| Uniformity among all the Species which are known to [24] us, in the Structure of those Parts, upon which Life depends more immediately. And how amazing is the Unity of Mechanism, when we shall find ||³⁹an|| almost infinite diversity of Motions, all their Actions in walking, running, flying, swimming; all their serious Efforts for Self-preservation, all their freakish Contortions when they are gay and sportful, in all their various Limbs, perform’d by one simple Contrivance of a contracting Muscle, apply’d with inconceivable Diversitys to answer all these Ends! Various Engines might have obtain’d the same Ends; but then there had been less Uniformity, and the Beauty of our Animal Systems, and of particular Animals, had been much less, when this surprizing Unity of Mechanism had been remov’d from them.

      IX. Among Animals of the same Species, the Unity is very obvious, and this Resemblance is the very Ground of our ranking them in such Classes or Species, notwithstanding the great Diversitys in Bulk, Colour, Shape, which are observ’d even in those call’d of the same Species. And then in each Individual, ||⁴⁰what vast Beauty|| arises from the exact Resemblance of all the external double Members to each other, which seems the universal Intention of Nature, when no Accident prevents it! We see the Want of this Resemblance never fails to pass for an [25] Imperfection, and Want of Beauty, tho no other Inconvenience ensues; as when the Eyes are not exactly like, or one Arm or Leg is a little shorter or smaller than its fellow.

      ||^41aAs to that most powerful Beauty in Countenances, Airs, Gestures, Motion, we shall shew in the second Treatise,^* that it arises from some imagin’d Indication of morally good Dispositions of ||^42bMind.^ab||

      Proportion.

      X. There is a further Beauty in Animals, arising from a certain Proportion of the various Parts to each other, which still pleases the Sense of Spectators, tho they cannot calculate it with the Accuracy of a Statuary. The Statuary knows what Proportion of each Part of the Face to the whole Face is most agreeable, and can tell us the same of the Proportion of the Face to the Body, or any Parts of it; and between the Diameters and Lengths of each Limb: When this Proportion of the Head to the Body is remarkably alter’d, we shall have a Giant or a Dwarf. And hence it is, that either the one or the other may be represented to us even in Miniature, without Relation to any external Object, by observing how the Body surpasses the Proportion it should have to the Head in Giants, and falls [26] below it in Dwarfs. There is a further Beauty arising from that Figure, which is a natural Indication of Strength; but this may be pass’d over, because probably it may be alleg’d, that our Approbation of this Shape flows from ||⁴³an|| opinion of Advantage, and not from the Form it self.

      The Beauty arising from Mechanism, apparently adapted to the Necessitys and Advantages of any Animal; which pleases us, even tho there be no Advantage to our selves ensuing from it; will be consider’d under the Head of Relative Beauty, or Design.^*

      Fowls.

      XI. The peculiar Beauty of Fowls can scarce be omitted, which arises from the ||⁴⁴vast|| Variety of Feathers, a curious Sort of Machines adapted to many admirable Uses, which retain a ||⁴⁵vast|| Resemblance in their Structure among all the Species, ||⁴⁶and|| a perfect Uniformity in those of the same Species in the corresponding Parts, and in the two Sides of each Individual; besides all the Beauty of lively Colours and gradual Shades, not only in the external Appearance of the Fowl, resulting from an artful Combination of shaded Feathers, but often visible even in one Feather separately. [27]

      Fluids.

      XII. If our Reasonings about the Nature of Fluids be just, the vast Stores of Water will give us an Instance of Uniformity in Nature above Imagination, when we reflect upon the almost infinite Multitude of small, polish’d, smooth Spheres, which must be suppos’d form’d in all the parts of this Globe. The same Uniformity there is probably among the Parts of other Fluids as well as Water: and the like must be observ’d in several other natural Bodys, as Salts, Sulphurs, and such like; whose uniform Propertys do probably depend upon an Uniformity in the Figures of their Parts.

      Harmony.

      XIII. Under Original Beauty we may include Harmony, or Beauty of Sound, if that Expression can be allow’d, because Harmony is not usually conceiv’d as an Imitation of any thing else. Harmony often raises Pleasure in those who know not what is the Occasion of it: And yet the Foundation of this Pleasure is known to be a sort of Uniformity. When the several Vibrations of one Note regularly coincide with the Vibrations of another, they make an agreeable Composition; and such Notes are call’d ||⁴⁷Concords||. Thus the Vibrations of any one Note coincide in Time with ||⁴⁸two Vibrations|| of its Octave; and two Vibrations of any Note coincide with three of its Fifth; and so on in the rest of the ||^49aCon-[28]cords. ||^50bNow no Composition can be harmonious, in which the Notes are not, for the most part, dispos’d according to these natural Proportions. Besides which, a due Regard must be had to the Key, which governs the whole, and to the Time and Humour, in which the Composition is begun: ||^51ca frequent and inartificial^c|| Change of any of which will produce the greatest, and most unnatural Discord.^b|| This will appear, by observing the Dissonance which would arise from tacking Parts of different Tunes together as one, altho both were separately agreeable. A like^a|| Uniformity is also observable among the Bases, Tenors, Trebles of the same Tune.

      ||^52aThere is indeed ||^53bobservable^b||, in the best Compositions, a mysterious Effect of Discords: They often give as great Pleasure as continu’d Harmony; whether by refreshing СКАЧАТЬ