THE SCIENCE OF BEAUTY. EDINBURGH: PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY, PAUL’S WORK. THE SCIENCE OF BEAUTY, AS DEVELOPED IN NATURE AND APPLIED IN ART. BY D. R. HAY, F.R.S.E. “The irregular combinations of fanciful invention may delight awhile, by that novelty of which the common satiety of life sends us all in quest; the pleasures of sudden wonder are soon exhausted, and the mind can only repose on the stability of truth.” DR JOHNSON. WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH AND LONDON. MDCCCLVI. TO JOHN GOODSIR, ESQ., F.R.S S. L. & E., PROFESSOR OF ANATOMY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, AS AN EXPRESSION OF GRATITUDE FOR VALUABLE ASSISTANCE, AS ALSO OF HIGH ESTEEM AND SINCERE REGARD, THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED, BY THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. My theory of beauty in form and colour being now admitted by the best authorities to be based on truth, I have of late been often asked, by those who wished to become acquainted with its nature, and the manner of its being applied in art, which of my publications I would recommend for their perusal. This question I have always found difficulty in answering; for although the law upon which my theory is based is characterised by unity, yet the subjects in which it is applied, and the modes of its application, are equally characterised by variety, and consequently occupy several volumes. Under these circumstances, I consulted a highly respected friend, whose mathematical talents and good taste are well known, and to whom I have been greatly indebted for much valuable assistance during the course of my investigations. The advice I received on this occasion, was to publish a _résumé_ of my former works, of such a character as not only to explain the nature of my theory, but to exhibit to the general reader, by the most simple modes of illustration and description, how it is developed in nature, and how it may be extensively and with ease applied in those arts in which beauty forms an essential element. The following pages, with their illustrations, are the results of an attempt to accomplish this object. To those who are already acquainted, through my former works, with the nature, scope, and tendency of my theory, I have the satisfaction to intimate that I have been enabled to include in this _résumé_ much original matter, with reference both to form and colour.