Page:Language of the Eye.djvu/18

4 CHAPTER II.

LIGHT AND COLOUR.

of the most delightful sources of information and excitement may be traced to the influence of light and colour, both which are deeply connected with our subject, and claim some observations.

Light and colour have an inherent beauty appreciable by the senses, and we may regard the expression of their beauty as best communicated by a state of tension of radii or illumination, which is not so vivid and corruscating as to cause pain or distraction, but sufficiently golden and mellow to avert any fear of darkness or deep shadow; for, as the natural love of life and the consciousness of existence aid in the prolongation of life, so one of the primary elements of life is light; indeed, to render any object beautiful, it must communicate sentiments of pleasure to all the senses. The eye is pleased with means and images which promise pleasure to the touch, and the ear with sounds which indicate the approach of objects pleasing to the eye; and, when the qualities most pleasing to the senses are combined, they express the highest social affection, and compose an object of perfect beauty. There is a certain order and arrangement of shades or shadows, in which different blendings and modulations of the rays of light are said to fall on the eye from every object it sees, and which create those pleasing vibrations