Towards health / by J. Arthur Thomson.

  • Thomson, J. Arthur (John Arthur), 1861-1933.
Date:
1927
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Towards health / by J. Arthur Thomson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    243/268 (page 231)
    Nay, what is Nature’s Self but an endless Strife towards music, Euphony, rhyme. Trees in their blooming, Tides in their flowing, Stars in their circling, Tremble with song. God on Elis throne Is Eldest of poets; Unto Elis measures Moveth the whole. It is a safe thesis that all wild creatures living in- dependent lives, fully formed and healthy, and apart from Man’s influence, are things of beauty. That is to say, they excite in us the characteristic aesthetic emo- tion, especially if we see them in their natural surround- ings. There is much to be said for the view that beauty is metaphorically Nature’s seal of approval on orderly growing and living ; even, as in the case of withering leaves, on well-regulated dying. The wither- ing of the “flowers of the forest” is like the dying-away of music. ! In Wild Nature the seal of beauty is prac- tically universal except where Man has blurred it with his fingers, frequently as careless as they are skilful. Organic Evolution favours strength and cunning, the sharpening of tooth and claw and the quickening of wits, but it also favours parental care and mutual aid. For the Struggle for Existence includes all the answers- back which living creatures make to environing diffi- culties and limitations; it includes co-operative as well as competitive tactics. So it may be said that the trend of Organic Evolution has given the premier place—to Birds and Mammals, for instance, among Vertebrates—that is to say, to organisms that are good