modern school. It is, indeed, less profitable to
discuss the relative distance values of the various
arts than to examine those factors within the art
which produce and those which reduce the human
appeal.

A familiar experience is that of the loss of dis-
tance which occurs in witnessing a production by a
stock company. After we have seen several plays
by the same company we become familiar with the
personality of the actors apart from the particular
rôle they may be taking. There is then aroused in
us a conflict between his part in the play and our
idea of the actor as an individual, independent of
the requirements of the plot. This latter concep-
tion takes us frequently beyond the frame of the
drama. The actor stands out in the picture as a
man we know.

So long as music remains strictly formal, it
induces extreme distance. With the introduction
of a "program," it becomes more difficult to hold
an æsthetic attitude, and it is for that reason that
"program" music is often decried. Attempts have
been made to add content to music by the simul-
taneous presentation of illustrations, as for ex-
ample the flashing on the screen of pictures by
Nicolas Poussin, accompanied by music represent-
ative of that artist's moods. A certain success
may be achieved by such methods, but they are
usually condemned by music lovers, who are pro-

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