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3. Abstract of Professor Kelland's Exposition of the Views

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 March 2015

D. R. Hay Esq.
Affiliation:
Symmetric Proportion.
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Extract

The fundamental hypothesis of the author was stated to be this:— That the eye is capable of appreciating the exact subdivision of spaces, just as the ear is capable of appreciating the exact subdivisions of intervals of time; so that tho division of space into an exact number of equal parts will affect the eye agreeably in the same way that the division of the time of vibration in music, into an exact number of equal parts, agreeably affects the ear. But the question now arises, What spaces does the eye most readily divide? It was stated that the author supposes those spaces to be angles, not lines; believing that the eye is more affected by direction than by distance. The basis of his theory, accordingly, is, that bodies are agreeable to the eye, so far as symmetry is concerned, whenever the principal angles are exact submultiples of some common fundamental angle.

Type
Proceedings 1849-50
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1850

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