It is interesting to notice that one of the perceptions which we
class among the highest is apparently developed comparatively early.
I refer to the aesthetic perception of the beautiful. Now, the
perception of beauty is generally considered as not very far below
or removed from the perception of truth and right. But some insects
and birds apparently possess this perception and the corresponding
emotion in no low degree. The colors of flowers seem to exist mainly
for the attraction of insects to insure cross-fertilization, and
certain insects seem to prefer certain colors. But you may say that
these afford merely sense gratification like that which green
affords to our eyes or sugar to our tastes.
But does not the grouping of colors in the flower appeal to some
aesthetic standard in the mind of the insect? What of the tail of the
peacock? Its iridescent rings and eyes evidently appeal to something
in the mind of the female. Do form and grouping minister to pure
sense gratification? What of the song of the thrush? Does not the
orderly and harmonious arrangement of notes and cadences appeal to
some standard of order of arrangement, and hence idea of harmony, in
the mind of the bird's mate?
Now, I grant you readily that the A B C of this training is mere
sense gratification at the sight of bright colors.
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