The Portland daily press., 1874-04-08
THE PRESS,
WEDNESDAY MORNING, APR,L s. ia
Symmetry in Time

ole only into before and after. In the zero of
NV NV tne Iuture is becoming the past; md
oeS suggests the division of the future, and
nta sne past 6y the Insertion of lmag med pres
periods; these imagined future nows becom-
my actual, as we successively reach them,
@nu those past having been actual, as
we passed them. As time flows only
lorward. the imagination runs back
n.m Masu INTO the past with the greatest
uiinculty; :. indeed am not certain whether
III, Ls POSSIBLE toi the Imagination to run back
hann %mGm a'tempt to do so, find that leap
odckwaro, by longer or shorter leaps. but
never run continuously in Imagination
through ur1e, except forward, from The mo-
ment to which have eaped.
by symn etry in time, therefore, we do not
mean similar arrangement of intervals he
lore and after certain moment. This has
occasionally been attempted in per recte ct
retro cnantlDg; but IL is transference If
| geOmetrlcal symmetry to time, where it is
out Of place, and tasteless. Symmetry in
time is the arrangement of two or more
similar seri-s OF intervals, to follow the same,
or successive movements. When the set of
similar intervals follows the same moment,
it constitutes keeping of time; when sue
cessive moments, rhythm unless the inter-
walls are very short. when rhythm becomes
tone, or color, and keeping time becomes
harmony.
The passion for harmony and rhythm is an
| essential element in human nature. 1t is
| passion which varies greatly in intensity in
different persons, but it is never wholly abb
sent Savage nations have some rudiments
OF music and of song. The naked Fuegian,
when the stormy winds OF his inhospitabe
straits pause for while in their wild uproar,
chants his songs or hymns in a rude meas
ure and melody. The dullest ear for har
mony has an ear for rhythm sufficient to per-
ceive the difference between prose and verse.
1t is when the intervals of time in rhythm
become so short, as to be separaby imper-
ceptible that the rhythm is called simply
tone; and harmony is the simultaneous
movement of tones. Man finds pleasure in
all torms OF symmetry IN time, whether the
parts are perceptible, or imperceptbly short;
and the worl has been made in exquisite
adaptation to this taste of man.
Space has three dimensions, time but one.
Yet, IN some respects, time is richer in its
contents tor man, than is sp ice. The beauty
OF forms In space, is almost equalled by the
beauty of color, and color arises simply from
symmetry of times; it is kind of tone
Color, indeed, is more expressive, more di-
recty productive of pleasure to the eye, than
form. The latter repeals more to the in
telectual ideas; the former appeals more to
the heart, and gives sweeter pledge or the
Divine Love. But beside color, symmetry in
time gives US mnsic in all its vast variety of
forms and expressions. In music there is a
beauty as distinctly intellectual as that of
geometrical figures, and power of expression
which geometric form attains, scarcely even
in the human figure and face. Nor can we
omit to mention heat, which although not
giving direct pleasure to the mind, and the
heart, as beauty, color, and music too, is
still essential to the life of the body ard to its
comfort. Many chemical changes are also
produced by minute symmetric motions.
A minute symmetrical division in space
produces no sensation for us, except as it
may lead to symmetrical motion. Thus the
minute symmetry of the particles OF solid
in a clear liquid solution, is revealed to us
only through the motion of light, and the
changes which that motion experiences in
going through the solution. In like manner
the temporal symmetry of motion in the ray
Of light coming from the stars, brings us
more information than its mere property OF
making visible can give; for, on cross-exam-
chemical secrets, and the degree Of heat in
the star at the time of its leaving, ages ago;
| and also the direction of the stars motion.
Mans organization, and his surroundings,
| are adapted to his love of music. His voice
is capable OF being regulated to musical tones
Of Of various pitch. The metals anA-s.;f'.'e',ssy
foundation of all, the air itself. by its easiici
ty, becomes the vehicle of sound aud the in
strument of music.
Two gases, intermingled, remain to GER
tain extent independent of each other; and,
inasmuch as sound travels in each gas with
velocity prOportioned to the density aud elas-
ITCHY Of that gas, there will be, from sin
gle source of sound, two sounds propagaIed
in the mixture, with different velOcties, in
terfering with each other, and destroying the
pure tone OF musical sound. Now the at
mosphere is mixture of heavy oxyger, with
lighter nitrogen. The elasticities are, howev-
er, so nearly adjusted to the densities. that
! sounds tlavel in either gas with nearly the
same velocity, so that the air sounds in an Or
| gan pipe, as if one gas. Had sound travelled
in these two gases at rates differing as much,
as the rate in them differs from that in most
| OF the gases known to US, the use of wind in
struments OF music would have been impossi-
BILE; probably all music, even the tones OF the
human voice, would, in that case, have been
discordant to an ear at any considerable dis
tance from the source Of sound. With the
| intense and eevating character of the pleas
ure derived, first from the tones of human
| speech, from the melody OF birds, and other
natural music, and secondly from the art of
| music, in our minds, we cannot but be CRATE
! ful for this adaptation of the mingled atmos-
phere to the needs OF man, in his higher ma
ture.
AL uuuuldIOly uOtlOu pI0uuCcS d SNulIucJIl-
cal division OF time. The beauty of color, like
that of tone, arises from an implicit percep-
tion Of rhythm. The harmony of tints liz the
landscape, like that of the sounds in strain
of music, arises from the harmony Of times
in which The vibrations of the mediums oc-
cur. The pleasure, in either case. arises from
an implicit, or unconscious, perception OF
keeping time. Heat also has its colors, or
| tones, as is known to all who have noticed
that rha Sun'S heat froalv fhrnrroh
| glass which is impervious to the heat OF
fire. What other advantages to man may
hereafter be discovered, in this cooration of
heat, time alone dan show but when we con-
slider to what an extent, through the prCvi-
dence of God, glas- is employed, it seems not
irreverent to own our gratitude to Him that
this substance reflects back the warmth Of
our apartments, and keeps 1T within, but al
| lows the heat of the sun to pass through from
| without.
Besides these hidden proofs of creative fore
| sight, and benefcence, in the concealed, or
minute symmetry of time, we shall find open
and abundant proofs in manifest rhythmic
movements. In the play Of alternating mus
cles, we perceive an adaptation of the physi-
cal frame to the intellectual taste. In walk
ing, for example, there are few persons who
| do not feel the increase of pleasure and of
| power gained by keeping step. A sii gle
| drum tap, regulating the tramp of large
| body of men, has sometimes an effect almost
equal to that of music. The rhythm of verse
| and of music, delights many who are compar-
| atively insensible to both melody and har-
mony properly so called. Who that reflects
! upon the genius of Bach, Of Handel, Of
Haydn, and Beethoven, and considers the eff
feet which music, such IS theirs, ha, upon
the world, can doubt the kindness of that su-
perintending Power, who kindlei the fire in
their hearts, and through that in ours; who
also adapted the air. and the various mater-
| ais, for man, by which he pours out his musi-
cal conceptions? Who that reflects upon the
genius Of Homer, and Shakespeare, and
remembers to how many millions their verse
| has given delight and instruction, can doubt
| that the same Beneficence gave the poet his
power and men the heart to be touched with
poetry y?-(Dr. Thomas Hill in the Unitarian