[author]霍姆斯,O.W.
[content]
The law of fashion is a law of life. The crest of the wave of human interest is always moving, and it is enough to kniow that the depth was greatest in respect of a certain feature or style in literature or music or painting a hurndred years ago to be sure that at that poinlt it no longer is so profound. I should draw the conclusion that artists and poets, instead of troublinig themselves about the etertial, had better be satisfied if they can stir the feelings of a generationi, but that is not my theme. It is more to my point to mention that what I have said about art is true within the limits of the possible in matters of the intellect. What do we mean wheen we talk about explaining a thing? A hundred years ago men ex-plained any part of the universe by showving its fitness for certain ends, and demonstrating what they conceived to be its final cause according to a providential scheme. In our less theological and more scienitific day, we explain an object by tracing the order and process of its growth and development from a starting point assumed as given……