are
inextricably associated with the objectifying activity of the
understanding. Whenever the golden thread of pleasure enters that
web of things which our intelligence is always busily spinning, it
lends to the visible world that mysterious and subtle charm which
we call beauty.

There is no function of our nature which cannot contribute
something to this effect, but one function differs very much from
another in the amount and directness of its contribution. The
pleasures of the eye and ear, of the imagination and memory, are
the most easily objectified and merged in ideas; but it would betray
inexcusable haste and slight appreciation of the principle involved,
if we called them the only materials of beauty. Our effort will
rather be to discover its other sources, which have been more
generally ignored, and point out their importance. For the five
senses and the three powers of the soul, which play so large a part
in traditional psychology, are by no means the only sources or
factors of consciousness; they are more or less external divisions of
its content, and not even exhaustive of that. The nature and
changes of our life have deeper roots, and are controlled by less
obvious processes.

The human body is a machine that holds together by virtue of
certain vital functions, on the cessation of which it is dissolved.
Some of these, like the circulation of the blood, the growth and
decay of the tissues, are at first sight unconscious. Yet any
important disturbance of these fundamental processes at once
produces great and painful changes in consciousness. Slight
alterations are not without their conscious echo: and the whole
temper and tone of our mind, the strength of our passions, the grip
and concatenation of our habits, our power of attention, and the
liveliness of our fancy and affections are due to the influence of
these vital forces. They do not, perhaps, constitute the whole basis
of any one idea or emotion: but they are the conditions of the
existence and character of all.

Particularly important are they for the _value_ of our experience.
They constitute health, without which no pleasure can be pure.
They determine our impulses in leisure, and furnish that surplus
energy which we spend in play, in art, and in speculation. The
attraction of these pursuits, and the very existence of an aesthetic
sphere, is due to the efficiency and perfection of our vital processes.
The pleasures which they involve are not