RECORD: Darwin, C. R. n.d. Abstract of ? animal sense of beauty. CUL-DAR88.150. Edited by John van Wyhe (The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online, http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed by Christine Chua and edited by John van Wyhe 9.2021. RN2
NOTE: See record in the Darwin Online manuscript catalogue, enter its Identifier here. Reproduced with permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library and William Huxley Darwin. The volumes CUL-DAR87-90 contain material for Darwin's book Descent of man 2d ed. (1874-1877).
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Abstract Morely
Says Beauty with us implies a rational element & intellectual associations which we do not know that animals have (All I can do is to guard my expressions) Objects because others may assume as Spectator has done, that taste is a divine gift to man & animals & implies a certain absoluteness. Shows how necessary to argue this point. Taste for food any how acquired
Thinks taste of argus-pheasant & ours a coincidence! Plumes of Birds of Paradise must be so & of Egret - Doubts whether ♀ nightingale has sense of beauty gratified by song but then what word must be used?
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N. B. it is only cultivated men that use the word Beauty in a high & complex sense.
[Morley, John.] 1871. [Review of Descent]. Pall Mall Gazette (20 March): 1059-1060; (21 March): 1075-1076. PDF
Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
File last updated 28 August, 2025