The second danger to be avoided in developing aesthetic appreciation is that of magnifying its dependence on the intellectual factors.  To understand, to be able to analyze, to pick out the flaws in a musical selection, or a painting, is not necessary to its appreciation.  True, some understanding is necessary, but, as in the case of skill, it is much less than has been taken for granted.  Appreciation can go far ahead of understanding.  The intellectual factor and the feeling response are not absolutely interdependent in degree.  Not only so, but the prominence of the intellectual factor precludes that of the feeling.  When one is emphasized the other cannot be, as they are different sorts of mental stuff.  Continuous and emphatic development of the intellectual may result in the atrophy of the power of appreciation in any given field either temporarily or permanently.  Many a boy’s power to enjoy the rhythm and melody of poetry has been destroyed by the overemphasis of the critical facility during his high school course.  The fact that a person can analyze the painting, point out the plans in its composition, and so on, does not at all mean that he can aesthetically appreciate.  Contemplative enjoyment may be impossible for him—­it bores him.  Botanists are not noted for their power of aesthetic appreciation.  It is an acknowledged fact that some art and music critics have lost their power of appreciation of the things they are continually criticizing.  This discussion is not intended to minimize the value of creative skill, or of power of intellectual criticism.  Both are talents that are well worth while cultivating.  But it is necessary for one to decide which of the three, aesthetic appreciation, creative skill, or intellectual criticism, in the fields of art, nature, and music, is most worth while for the majority of people and then make plans accordingly.  No one of the three can be best developed and brought to its highest perfection by emphasizing any one of the others.

The second type of appreciation is appreciation of human nature:  appreciation of the value of human life, appreciation of its virtues and trials, appreciation of great characters, and so on.  Some writers would probably class this type of appreciation under moral feelings—­but moral feelings usually are thought of as active, as accompaniments of conduct, whereas these appreciations are feelings aroused in the onlooker—­they are passive and for the time being are an end in themselves.  These feelings are stimulated by such studies as literature and history particularly.  Geography and civics offer some opportunity for their development, and, of course, contact with people is the greatest stimulus.  In this latter type of situation the feelings of appreciation easily pass over into active emotions, but so long as one remains an onlooker, they need not do so.  This appreciation, sympathy with and enjoyment and approval of human nature, finds its source in the social