Evolution in Art: as illustrated by the Life-histories of Designs

Abstract

THIS little book answers admirably to the idea of the Contemporary Science Series, of which it forms part, in being at once a work of original research and a popularisation of the subject. It is an example of the scientific method as applied to the history of art. That method, as cannot be too often repeated, consists essentially in patient accumulation of facts, and their classification according to their observed connections. The inferences which are drawn, after this process has been gone through, are trustworthy in direct ratio with the accuracy with which the facts have been observed and recorded and the extent of the area over which they have been collected.

Evolution in Art: as illustrated by the Life-histories of Designs.

By Alfred C. Haddon, Professor of Zoology, Royal College of Science, Dublin. Pp. xviii + 364. (London: Walter Scott, Limited, 1895.)