The attentive reader will probably have remarked that those very aspects of art with which we have been engaged in the latter part of this work broadly correspond to some of the most important interpretations of the art-impulse offered by æsthetic theories. To give information—that is, to widen our knowledge of nature and life; to propitiate—that is, to flatter our senses by the display of beauty; to stimulate—that is, to heighten our vital energy, and thus make life easier to live and life’s work easier to perform; to work magic—that is, to produce an illusion of reality capable of leading to a confusion between the subjective and objective world;—these are all purposes which have been represented as essential to art. From our summary investigation of primitive art it has, we hope, appeared how fully we admit the close connection of these purposes with the historical development of art. And it might be shown, if our investigation were pursued into the later stages of development, that art on its highest plane still bears the same relation to concrete utilities as it does on the lowest. Art never ceases to inform, never ceases to please, never ceases to stimulate, never loses something of a magical efficacy. But while acknowledging the importance of all these purposes, we have, on the other hand, to maintain the view which was set out in the psychological chapters of the opening—that it is only by assuming an independent art-impulse that we can explain the essential character of art. To make plain the distinction between these two points of view it is advisable to summarise in brief the arguments of either part of our investigation. In the first chapters the writer attempted to show that the art-impulse in its broadest sense must be taken as an outcome of the natural tendency of every feeling-state to manifest itself externally, the effect of such a manifestation being to heighten the pleasure and to relieve the pain. We found in this fact the primary source of art as an individual impulse. But art is essentially social; and this also we explained on psychological grounds. The secondary effect of the exteriorisation of a feeling-state is to awaken similar feelings in other human beings who perceive the manifestation; and their sympathetic feeling acts upon the author of the original manifestation, heightening in him the feeling-state which gave rise to it.