CONTROL AND ENTHUSIASM TRUE LOVE. By Allan Monkhouse. (Collins. 7s. net.) CHILDREN OF NO MAN'S LAND. By G. B. Stern. (Duckworth, 7s. net.) MR R. MONKHOUSE is an author who drives a pen well under control. It is, we feel, a trained obedient pen, warranted neither to idle nor to run away, but to keep up a good round pace from the first moment of the journey until the last. While it has long since been broken of any inclination to shy at an occasional accidental object it is by no means wholly devoid of playfulness. This playfulness serves to illustrate how nice is the author's control in that he can afford not only to tolerate, but even to encourage it, while maintaining an easy equable measure. There is a moment when Geoffrey Arden, the hero, dismissing the reasons for his confidence in the success of his new play, exclaims to his sister, "I'm a bit of a pro. at this game, Mary." And that, with all respect to Mr. Monkhouse, is the abiding impression he leaves on us. He is a professional novelist, quietly confident, carefully ironical, and choosing always, at a crisis, to underrate the seriousness of the situation rather than to stress it unduly. Admirable as this temper undoubtedly is, it nevertheless leaves the reader a great deal cooler than he would wish. He is interested, stimulated, and even, towards the latter half of the book, moved, yet with what reservations! There is a title which the amateur novelist shares (but how differently!) with the true artist: it is that of experimentalist. However deep the knowledge a writer has of his characters, however finely he may convey that knowledge to us, it is only when he passes beyond it, when he begins to break new ground, to discover for himself, to experiment, that we are enthralled. The "false" writer begins as an experimentalist; the true artist ends as one; but between these two there are a small number of writers of unquestionable honesty and sincerity who do not feel the impulsion toward unknown issues. It follows that in novels of this kind there is room for most delicate distinctions, but high excitements are out of place; all is, as it were, at secondhand, and while we are not expected to share the experience with the author, he would seem, by the care he takes never to make an unguarded statement, to expect of us a kind of intellectual running commentary. True Love" is an extremely good example of this peculiar kind of novel. We are conscious throughout of the author's attitude, of his vein of irony which gives an edge to what might otherwise appear a trifle " simple," and of his generous appreciation of all the possibilities of a man like Arden. His scene is Manchester, its journalistic circles and its small theatrical world. The time is before the war and during it. Geoffrey Arden, a young man of thirty, on the staff of the Herald is one of those divided souls whose mind is in literature (he is the author of several novels and two plays), but whose heart is in life. Neither satisfies him. When he gives way to one the other calls; when he answers the other, again he is beckoned away. He is like all men in such case, deeply interested in himself and in what is going to happen to him. But this interest is not in the least abnormal or morbid; it is the interest of the looker-on, almost one might say of the Geoffrey Arden that was to be, tolerant, amused and wise. In the months before the war he comes to know and, slowly, to love an actress who takes the principal part in his play. In her he sees perhaps the delicate spirit who will bring him into harmony with Life. But the war breaks out, and when he asks her to marry him she tells him she is a German. And she was right. If his heart triumphed it was for the briefest instant. And then his mind is attacked by the most curious mixture of doubt, suspicion and criticism. Here is the old battle again in a new guise, and perhaps his heart would have lost if Sybil Drew had allowed him to fight it alone. She loves him; she cannot let him go, and cleverly in her desperation she makes her appeal to his heart through his mind, with her "wonderful idea." Listen! It's this. We cannot agree. We must not agree. You shall be English. And I am partly English too. But I am German. Listen with sympathy. You shall champion your nation, I mine. We must be generous with one another and help one another. That means that you must help me. must think of things that I ought to say . . chivalrous enemies and lovers too?" You Cannot we be This, then, is the task they set themselves-to love and to be loyal. But Geoffrey goes to the war and is killed while they are still trying, and she, left in England, dies in childbed, hunted to death by the anti-Germans. There is nothing left of them but-two men talking their tragedy over in a teashop. Would their lives have been splendid? Would Arden have found his abiding place in the heart of Sybil? We are left uncertain, but Mr. Monkhouse, in choosing so brave a title for his book, would seem to believe that all would have been well; it rings like his profession de foi. It would be hard to find a style more unlike that so consciously practised by Mr. Monkhouse than that (shall we say?) so recklessly enjoyed by the author of Children of No Man's Land." Mr. Stern flings his net wide; he brings it in teeming, and which are the important fish, which are to be thrown back into the sea, if those funny monsters are fish at all, or alive, or good for anything-it takes the reader a long book to discover. London is his ocean-Jewish London, Bohemian London, the London of strange boarding-houses and strange foreigners. His knowledge of it is almost mystifyingly complete, and it is poured out for us with a queer mixture of enthusiasm, love of human beings and cunning understanding of them. His central figure, the solid little rock above and about which all this beats and froths and bubbles, is Richard Marcus, a typically English boy of German parents, who does not discover until the war that he is legally a German -a child of no man's land. It does not matter that he has spent all his life in England, that he hates the Germans, hates everything about them, and loves England and the English. He is not asked what his own feelings are, but a set of alien horrible false feelings are provided for him by those same English, and, far from letting him fight for them, they only wait until he is of age to send him to an internment camp. The story of this little fifteen-year-old boy's gradual coming to consciousness through this, of his struggle first to be allowed to be English, and then to escape from the English whom he loves, of his nightmare journey across no man's land with the English hunting him down, and then on the last day of his freedom, his eighteenth birthday, his strange revelation that nothing that man can do to you really matters. . . is the chief story of the book. All the others, intricate and manycoloured, and some of them bewildering in their strangeness, are variations upon the same theme. They seem to depart so far from the noble childish simplicity of Richard that at times they are well-nigh lost. The character of Deborah, for instance (who is perhaps the most convincing" modern girl we have ever encountered in fiction or in life), becomes so involved and difficult that we are on the very point of thinking her gone when the theme of Richard returns, and she is explained and, as it were, made whole. It is a strange world, a bewildering world, but there is no doubt that Mr. Stern makes it absolutely convincing. K. M. NOTES FROM IRELAND DUBLIN, November 20, 1919. THE Protestantism of the Irish Catholic is perhaps most strikingly demonstrated by the existence in this country of the Evangelical point of view amongst people innocent of the Nonconformist heresy. Ireland is the only Catholic country where Sabbatarianism and similar Puritan phenomena are not restricted to the Protestant minority. At the present time we are in the teeth of a Puritanical gale, for the winds of moral doctrine are blowing strong from that quarter, owing doubtless to the revival everywhere of leagues and associations in defence of the Good, the True and the Beautiful. This devasted and unrecognizably democratized world of ours is a rich and tempting field for all right-thinkers-to use a valuable Americanism-and every forward-looker has a panacea for the thousand evils that distract us. In Ireland this uplift movement has resolved itself chiefly into an elaborate purity campaign, for which it is never difficult to procure recruits, especially when, by a skilful admixture of nationalistic sentiment, moral endeavour is identified with patriotism. The Bishop of Limerick fired the first shot by denouncing the current feminine fashions as the diabolical machinations of Freemasons, Jews and members of the Grand Orient. This last institution has long been a Sinn Fein superstition, and has been credited by naïve patriots with the European war, as well as with any other event of world But this is the first time politics unpleasing to the theorists. that the Grand Orient has been invoked to explain such all-too-human phenomena as the transparent stocking or the curtailed skirt. Evidently, it is as easy to offend the ears of a Buddhist in Dublin, as those of a Presbyterian in Edinburgh, by a display of levity where their particular idols are concerned. An outraged reviewer in the Irish Statesman asks with Mr. Chesterton: Who would be bothered blaspheming against Thor? You will admit that literary life is a trifle complicated in this Island of Saints and . Buddhists. The episcopal pronunciamiento having been received with becoming gravity, the next step was the rallying of the plain people to what is termed a great" anti-smut" demonstration. The purpose of these gatherings is to denounce the naughtiness of the revues, and the vaudeville shows, with which Great Britain seeks to undermine the purity, and destroy the moral fibre, of this island in general, and of its women folk in particular. Lewd newspaper-men, when they visit the theatres of commerce in this city, return to their desks to record their blushes and their indignation that such shows should be permitted. Enormous queues outside the sinful establishments testify to the success of the really unintentional advertisements thus given, but they never shake the faith of the moralists in the incomparable innocence of the Irish public. By a curious irony the advocates of the chemically pure are invariably strong believers in the destiny of the Gael, and the champions of our ancient literature and traditions. Yet, while AngloIrish literature is Puritanical, Irish is full-blooded and natural. So much so, in fact, that certain pillars of Trinity College Protestantism based their opposition to the revival of the Irish language on the ground that the literature was either negligible or obscene. Thus are the humours and paradoxes of all Irish controversies preserved, even in the most unpromising circumstances. TYNDALE'S PRINTER B. SOME few years ago the Bibliographical Society published a paper on Reformation books printed abroad from 1525 to 1548, beginning with the interrupted New Testament at Cologne of which only a single fragment survives, going on to the group of two books printed at Strasburg in 1526, one of which was considered to have been utterly destroyed, till the paper showed that it had been bought up by the English authorities, stored up in London and forgotten, and finally reissued in 1550 with a new title-page. The paper centred round the use of a particular variety of type, and Mr. Robert Steele, the author, evidently considered that the reforming party had obtained control either of the punches, or the matrices made from them in which the type was cast. It was shown that a whole succession of Reformation tracts from 1528 to 1535, issued under the name of Hans Luft of Marburg, were printed on the same batches of paper with the same type, and the opinion was hazarded that they were all printed at Antwerp. In concentrating on the type, Mr. Steele had neglected to take into consideration the possibility of a professional printer devoting himself to the work. But this has turned out to be the case. A Dutch bibliographer, Miss Kronenberg, who has already catalogued the incunabula at Deventer, had her attention directed to some Reformation books printed in Dutch at Basel bi mi Adam Anonymous." Several attempts at the identi fication of this printer had been made, and it was suspected that he was really an Antwerp printer. When, after her study had made considerable progress, Mr. Steele's paper fell into her hands, she saw at once that Adam Anonymous and Hans Luft were the same person. The next step forward, his identification with a real person, was soon made. Among the Antwerp printers who had an official connection with printing in England was a certain Michael Hillen van Hoochstraten, who had printed Henry VIII.'s book against Luther in 1522. His son John is found, when the "Marburg" press suddenly breaks off in 1530, using its type at Lubeck for a couple of years. He then goes to Malmö for three years, and when his imprint disappears the "Marburg" press reappears in Antwerp with a fresh output of Reformation tracts to 1541-all anonymous. From 1541 to 1543 his books bear his name; and after 1543 he disappears from Reform work-probably married, as Miss Kronenberg suggests. Her paper appears in the October number of Het Boek, and is an important contribution to English bibliography. The changed policy of the Times in regard to Ireland has naturally been the subject of favourable comment over here for some time past, but I cannot say that the special Irish Number provoked much interest or enthusiasm. For various reasons we had a little difficulty in recognizing ourselves as described in this symposium, and what excited most wonder was the thought that perhaps there were really human beings who would wade through that vast mass of uneven matter. The best joke that Dublin got out of the number was the thought that an official who had spent many months bluepencilling all expressions of Irish opinion unacceptable to Dublin Castle should, if rumour is correct, have been selected to arrange a paper whose alleged purpose was the presentation of an authoritative survey of Irish affairs. Miss Helen Waddell, whose Lyrics from the Chinese just preceded the vogue of these translations, has published with the Talbot Press an amusing little play from the repertory of the Ulster Players. The Spoiled Buddha" tells how Buddha desired the beauty of a passing woman, and so fell from grace. The two acts are full of a subdued and subtle humour, but they have mortally offended some of our theosophists. When I mentioned the play to Æ," he complained of its blasphemy and irreverence, in a way which would have convinced even his worst enemies that his belief in the sacred writings of the East is a genuine religious feeling. BOOK SALE ON Monday, November 17, and the three following days, Messrs. Sotheby sold the library of the late Sir Frank Crisp, the chief lots being the following: Andrews, H. C., Botanist's Repository, 10 vols., 1816, 15 10s. Botanical Cabinet, 20 vols., 1817-33, 34. Botanical Register, 34 vols., 1815-47, £32. Brunet, J. C., Manuel du Libraire, 7 vols., 1860-70, £19 10s. Curtis, W., Botanical Magazine, 125 vols., 1793-1918, £210. Franeau, J., Jardin d'Hyver, 1616, £29. Fuchsius, L., De historia stirpium, 1542, 432 10s. Gerarde, J., Herball, 1597, £29. Herbarius, printed at Passau, 1485, £49, Hooker, J. D., Botany of Ross's Antarctic Voyage, 4 vols., 1847-60. £70. Hortus Sanitatis, 1517, £30 10s. Jerome of Brunswick, Das distilierbuoch, 1521, 17. Lilford, Lord, Birds of the British Islands, 7 vols., 1891-7, 62. Loris, D., Le Thresor des Parterres de l'Univers, 1629, 420. Lorris, G. de, and J. de Meung, Le Rommant de la Rose, 1538, £23 10s. Lory, Voyage pittoresque de Genève à Milan par le Simplon, 1811, £49. Merian, M., Florelegium renovatum, 1641, 415. Murray, C. Fairfax, Catalogue of Early French Books, 2 vols., 1910, 18 10's.; Catalogue of Early German Books, 2 vols., 1913, 418 10s. Parkinson, John, Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris, 1629, £20 10s. Pass, C. van de, Hortus Floridus, 1614, £37. Recorde, R., The Castle of Knowledge, 1556, 420. Schedel, H., Chronicon Nuermbergense, 1493, 147. Sowerby, J., English Botany, 13 vols., 1863-92, £21. Sweet, R., The British Flower Garden, 7 vols., 1823-38, 16 10s. Turner, W., Herbal, 1568. Villanova, Arnoldus de, Tractatus de Uirtutibus Herbarum 1491, £40. The total of the sale was £4,231. W HETHER or not it be true that the proper study of mankind is man, it is certain that he finds great difficulty in studying anything else. His first impulse, when he thinks about the universe at large, is to consider it in reference to himself, and to explain it in terms of his own actions and desires. In Astronomy, for example, it long seemed quite reasonable that in the peculiarities of men's bodies should be found the system on which the universe is constructed. The arguments of Galileo's contemporaries amuse us now, for we have learned modesty, but the tendency to explain all things in purely human terms, as it were, is by no means yet extinct, and is still a hindrance to science. It is even hinted that man's explanation of himself is not free from bias; psychologists inform us that a man's account of his own actions is not always to be trusted, that the true springs of his conduct are usually those he would blush to own. But if we are to say that man's speculations about the universe show an overwhelming sense of his own inportance we must allow him also a certain generosity. Until quite recent times he was willing to dower almost anything, animate or inanimate, with his own attributes. He credited stones with life and trees with desire, while the whole animal world were his brothers. He could admire the loving sentiments of the dove and weep for the sorrows of the crab. A pathetic confidence in man as the type and exemplar of the universe informed nearly all the early writings on animal psychology, and Descartes' theory that animals were automatic roused a sentimental indignation which has not yet subsided. Nevertheless, comparatively recent investigations tend to overthrow the natural assumption that worms and insects are little men inhabiting strange bodies. The modern biologist refuses to be consciencestricken when referred to the industry of the bee or the conjugal perfections of the dove. It is only recently that he has become so heartless. Darwin, in a celebrated passage, describes with simple reverence the mutual affection existing between snails. The intelligence of these little creatures was also estimated highly by Romanes. Loeb, the great American biologist, did much to upset this naive anthropomorphism. He took some worms who are "always attracted by light," and showed that this movement did not testify to a more light" cry in these little souls, but was a purely automatic proceeding. The worm places itself so that both sides of its body are equally illuminated. It is a mechanical action due to the influence of light on the living matter of its body. If there are two lights the worm passes between them, thus securing fequal illumination of its two sides. The crab which, being held by a claw, sheds that claw and hurries to the nearest rock for shelter, is found to do the same thing after its eyes or brain have been destroyed. Dr. Georges Bohn, who has made many experiments to determine how far the actions of the lower animals are purely mechanical, gives an interesting account of a certain parasitic worm which attaches itself to the fish called the torpedo. He finds (1) that if the amount of salt in the water be varied the reactions of the worm alter; (2) that if light be allowed to play first on one part and then on another part of the worm, its reactions alter; (3) if the animal has already taken up its position, attached to the glass, for instance, and a shadow be passed over the top of the vessel, the whole body of the worm turns itself into the vertical in such a way that if the shadow were caused by a passing torpedo, the worm could attach itself to the fish. If, however, it be already attached to a torpedo, it does not raise itself at a passing shadow. Here, then, is an association between the region of the body excited by light and the part fixed to the fish. It was found, also, that the crab which abandons its claw only does so when held by a certain part. The action appears to be purely automatic. If it were dependent in any way on the crab's simultaneous visual perceptions, for instance, an associative phenomen would be established. But experimental tests find no such correspondence. As the result of numerous experiments of this kind biologists have become very wary of offering psychical explanations of the actions of the lower animals. Even when genuine associations are established one must be careful not to interpret them in terms of human psychology. In the very description of experiments an unwarrantable turn may be given to the phenomena by the fact that words of ordinary language inevitably call up associations which may be out of place in the discussion. To say that an amoeba learns to reject certain foreign particles in a solution, for instance, is a statement that requires careful interpretation. How are we to picture an amoeba learning something? But, indeed, the danger of anthropomorphic interpretations becomes very obvious when we reflect on the purely physical phenomena which accompany man's own emotions. If the James-Lange theory be correct, it is in terms of these physical phenomena that we must understand man's emotions. Now consider the example given in Washburn's book, The Animal Mind." An angry man has a quickened heartbeat, altered breathing, a change in muscular tension, and a change in the blood. Consider It has no lungs, but breathes through its tracheæ ; the circulation of its blood is fundamentally different from that in man; all its muscles are attached internally because its skeleton is everywhere external. What, then, is an angry" wasp? It seems clear that if a man is to study anything but man he must forget himself as far as possible. S. a wasp. SOCIETIES ROYAL.-November 13.-Sir J. J. Thomson, President, in the chair. The following papers were read, the summaries printed having been supplied by the authors The Genesis of Edema in Beriberi," by Lieut.-Col. R. McCarrison (communicated by Prof. J. G. Adami). Conclusions previously reached by physiological methods of adrenalin estimation are confirmed by chemical methods. Deficiency of certain accessory food factors gives rise to a greatly increased production of adrenalin. Whatever the function of adrenal medulla may be, excessive production of adrenalin, under conditions of vitaminic" deficiency, is concerned with causation of œdema. " The Microscopical Features of Mechanical Strains in Timber and the Bearing of these on the Structure of the Cell-wall in Plants," by Mr. W. Robinson (communicated by Prof. W. H. Lang). While it is pointed out that the facts derived from the study of failure in timber are not wholly inconsistent with the micellar hypothesis of Naegeli, an alternative hypothesis of cell-wall structure is proposed In this hypothesis it is suggested that the mechanical anisotropy, as well as the optical properties and the visible structure of cell-walls, may be explained as a result of mechanical causes operating on the substance of the cell-wall in the course of its development from a highly viscous fluid to a more rigid condition. "The Effect of Nitrogen-fixing Organisms and Nucleic Acid Derivatives on Plant Growth" by Mr. W. B. Bottomley (communicated by Prof. F. W. Oliver). The products of the nitrogen-fixing organism, Azotobacter chroococcum, are shown to have a marked effect in increasing the rate of growth of plants cf Lemna minor in water culture; and the derivatives of nucleic acid, which the author has found can be extracted from raw peat, are also able to act as accessory food substances. It is demonstrated that it is the organic material which is so essential for the complete metabolism of these plants, and they cannot maintain their normal growth and vigour for any length of time without the presence of small quantities of organic substances. " 'The Vegetative Morphology of Pistia and the Lemnacea," by Agnes Arber (communicated by Prof. F. W. Oliver). Anatomical examination of the "limb " of the leaf of Pistia Stratiotes L., the river lettuce, shows that, in addition to normally orientated vascular bundles, there is a series of inverted bundles towards the upper surface. This fact is regarded as indicating that the leaf is of the nature of a petiolar phyllode. This interpretation is extended to the distal part of the frond of the Lemnacea (Duckweeds). The " general view, put forward by Engler forty years ago, as to the morphological relation of the Aracea-through Pistia and the Lemnaceæ, is accepted, and it is shown that investigation by modern methods makes it possible to carry the comparison considerably further. Serial sections through a developing shoot of Pistia reveal the presence of a pocket" in connection with each leaf, occurring below the level of the free part of the limb. This pocket is formed on one side by the leaf-sheath and on the other side by the axis, and encloses a bud occupying a lateral position in relation to the limb of the leaf. It is shown that these pockets are exactly equivalent to the pockets at the base of the frond in the Lemnacea, which in the case of Spirodela are easily seen to be formed on the lower side by the wings of the leaf-sheath terminating in two minute ligular flaps, and on the upper side by the axis. Effects of Exercise and Humid Heat upon Pulse Rate, Blood Pressure, Body Temperature, and Blood Concentration," by Messrs. W. J. Young, A. Breinl, J. J. Harris, and W. A. Osborne (communicated by Prof. J. N. Langley). The results point to the fact that both exercise and humid heat play a part in producing a rise in blood pressure, pulse rate, and rectal temperature. The degree of rise. however, is controlled by atmospheric conditions, which influence the rate of cooling of the body. ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL.~November 19-Sir Napier Shaw, President, in the chair. Lieut. C. W. B. Normand read a paper on the "Effect of High Temperature, Humidity and Wind on the Human Body." Capt. A. J. Bamford read a paper on "Some Observations of the Upper Air over Palestine." Attention was called to the agreement between the results found and the general summary in Professor Hildebrandson's "Mouvements généraux de l'atmosphère." The e flights were observed for the first few (usually 15) minutes with two theodolites, or a theodolite to a rangefinder, the upper part of each ascent being observed with a theodolite alone. The second part of the paper dealt with vertical velocities, and included frequency curves showing for each of the layers 0-2,000, 2,000-4,000, 4,000-6,000 feet, the number of times in each month that the observed velocities differed from the theoretical ones by not more than 10, 20, 30 or 40 per cent., etc. The lowest layer is appreciably the most varied, and in it differences of 50 per cent. are not unusual, although the average velocity differs very slightly from theory. In the other layers there is a distinct increase in the compactness of the frequency curves, while the average velocity changes from slightly above to slightly below the theoretical value. aspect of a very extensive subject treated in the paper was the A third paper, by Mr. E. G. Bilham, was entitled "Barometric Pressure and Underground Water Level." The results recently obtained from a study of an experimental well with autographic registration at Kew Observatory were compared with some earlier records obtained by Dr. Isaac Roberts at Maghull, near Liverpool, and by Prof. K. Honda in the neighbourhood of Tokyo. As at Kew, the sensitiveness of the water surface at Maghull to pressure-changes varies considerably, high sensitiveness being associated with saturation of the soil by previous heavy rainfall. ROYAL NUMISMATIC.-November 20.-Prof. C. Oman, President, in the chair. " FORTHCOMING MEETINGS NOVEMBER. Mr. Percy H. Webb exhibited a triens of Galla Placidia found in Serbia, and an unusually fine first brass of Tiberius (type Cohen 68) with rev. a temple with eight columns.-Mr. L. A. Lawrence showed an unpublished bronze coin of Carausius, rev. UBE(RTAS) PERP: Ubertas at altar with snake.-Prof. Oman showed an unpublished third brass of Constantine I. of the Urbs Roma type, but with obv. legend URBS ROMA BEATA, mint R.Q., and an unidentified drachm of the fourth century B.C., obv. head of satrap in Persian cap, rev. lion's head in square.-Mr. Garside showed a Mexican two reales of Philip V., 1742, with heart-shaped perforation with plain edge and a dentated ornamentation on obv, and reverse around it, countermarked for circulation in Martinique during the British occupation 1809-14.-There was also exhibited a specimen of the medal struck in honour of Cardinal Mercier, and presented to the Society by the "Hommage National" Committee. Fri. 28. DECEMBER. Mr. Harold Mattingly read a paper on The Republican Origins SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES.-November 20.-Sir Hercules Read, Mr. A. W. Clapham read a paper on the Latin monastic remains Mon. 1. King's College, 4.-"The Beginnings of Christian Art: University College, 5.-" Italian Society in the Renais King's College, 5.30. Bohemia: Downfall and National Revival," Dr. R. W. Seton-Watson. Aristotelian, 8. The Nature of Inference," Mr. Geographical (Æolian Hall), 8.30.-" Development of Tues. 2. Institution of Civil Engineers, 5.30. Some Aspects University College, 5.30." Danish Literature," Lec- Wed. 3. Royal Institute of Public Health (37, Russell Square, Thurs. 4. Unwin. Royal Archæological Institute, 4.30. School of Oriental Studies, London Institution, Fins- University, South Kensington, 5.-" Twelve Good Imperial College of Science. 5.30.-"Geology and King's College, 5.30.- The Old Drama and the New," Lecture III., Mr. William Archer. Jniversity College, 5.30. Norwegian Literature," University College, 6.15." Fundamental Principies of donell. University College, 5.30." Selma Lagerlöf," Lec ture V., Mr. I. Björkhagen. Child-Study (90, Buckingham Palace Road, S.W.), 6.- W S 4 A Fine Arts THE "SALON D'AUTOMNE " NALYSING the melancholy which descends upon us at the very first step, we are able to gauge the full extent of that disintegration of values which has taken place during the war. The Autumn Salon is very much the same as it was in 1913; a few "revolutionaries" are lacking, that is all. What seemed to us, five years ago, sick, but still alive, now seems to us decomposed. Some of the rooms are huge cemeteries at the entrance of which one hesitates a moment: what is the use of going further? Then the desire of finding, "" attraction despite of everything, some "becomes too strong, and one makes one's way through the room, feeling one's anguish and even disgust momently growing. And yet there is not a single wall that does not reveal a hundred proofs of talent and ingenuity. Nothing could be more obvious. Most of the painters represented possess the same honourable little skill, or the same polite manner of exposing themselves-almost no exhibitions of violence; anodyne products, of reasonable proportions, on gilt-edged subjects, whose frail merits are analysed point by point in the honours lists published in the papers. It would be unfitting to go on being surprised at this mediocrity if it were not aggravated by vulgarity. This deadly sin shocks us more than anything. Vulgarity is, so to speak, universal; it floods the walls of this Salon, it even emanates from works from the hands of artists who are often very distinguished and are full of good intentions. How is it that the most praiseworthy desires come to be thus betrayed? For five years there has been a quiet erosion of men's minds: this silent wearing away of old tastes has made a void in all men's souls, an expectation, a desire. New curiosities have come into existence, while methods of expression, either left uncultivated or cultivated only by isolated artists, have remained stagnant. Whence arises a kind of disproportion between the spectator's demand and the artist's response, together with a disproportion, in the mind of the latter, between his intentions and his realizations. Thenceforth the artist's emotion, which, bodied forth, has power to save an imperfect work of art by giving it a soul, no longer finds an adequate vehicle in a decaying technique. The realism of method, the only visible realism, revolts our eyes, and the artist's idea remains unknown through being insufficiently expressed. We no longer hear a single word of what certain artists are saying to us (and for all we know they may be making declarations of love), because they fade away into a soundless language. A collector, whom I met coming out of the Autumn Salon, said to me, with a look of real distress: “I have been vainly searching for the masterpieces whose coming you prophesied. I have found nothing but the sort of scrawls one has already seen thousands of times before, and now I leave this Salon overwhelmed by a deadly sense of weariness, sickened with the old formulas. I begin to wonder if I ought to go on buying pictures This well-intentioned man exactly expressed the present feeling of uneasiness, the revolt of the more daring type of amateur, who cannot, however, bring himself to the point of preferring to a colourless craftsmanship those formulas of Cubism that are as much in advance of the average conceptions of the present time as the formulas of Impressionism are behind. But the conclusion I particularly wish to draw from his words concerns the collapse of the Impressionist methods, the bankruptcy of "direct speech." " It will be well to give some definition of what we mean by "direct speech." The Impressionist painter (whose temple this Salon is) believes in the most immediate reality, the reality that lies in front of his nose. He cannot conceive of any choice among the elements offered him by reality. His work of reproduction is confined, so to speak, to going out hunting, brush in hand, for the skin of things and transporting it, just as it is, on to the canvas, in the form of delicate and venturesome tones. He goes in a hurry, as straight as he can; he takes the shortest road. Now these direct methods are the property of painters who discovered them, cultivated and perfected them. These painters, our elders, despite the fact that they try to introduce a rhythm into their imitative gesture, remain faithful to their primitive ideal, and their faith ennobles an outworn technique. They alone can extract profit from these direct methods and produce, by their mastery, works that still preserve some quality. But as soon as their technique passes into the hands of the painters of the following generation, whatever may be their ability, it loses all eloquence, all significance. For this reason this Salon, which should be the triumph of the young men, is really the triumph of the elders, of those who go on honestly cultivating a formula now accepted by the public. New values are insufficiently represented; it is the "valeurs classées valeurs classées" that legitimize this exhibition and give to the two rooms in which they are represented an aspect which, if not new, is at least respectable and familiar. In passing we salute Bonnard, Flandrin, Guérin, Laprade, Lebasque, Matisse, Valloton, etc., who, despite the inevitable resistance of the public of that date, did their work in the past by clearing a little of the territory captured from official routine, and who go on adding a few touches to a work that has already found its definitive expression. But the fact that we are here witnessing the triumph of the innovators of yesterday, and that there we see the bankruptcy of their direct descendants, surely does not prove that a new revolution is not happening somewhere. If we look carefully we shall find, here and there, half stifled though it may be by the shadow of still-born works, a genuine living work that has miraculously escaped from the ostracism of this year's jury, the composition of which -four or five personalities excepted-disconcerts one by its worthlessness. ANDRÉ LHOTE. (To be concluded.) EXHIBITIONS OF THE WEEK THOMAS M'LEAN'S GALLERY.-Flanders after the War. |