How many a turn in the
history of mankind has depended upon the unspoken diplomacy of the eyes;
how many a crisis in our personal lives is determined, not by words, but
by looks."
"That's right," said Jack, "more matches are made with eyes than with
lips."
Edmund smiled and continued: "There's nothing really mysterious about it.
It has a purely physical basis, and only needs attention and development
to become the most perfect mode of mental communication that intellectual
beings could possibly possess."
"And the music and language of color?" I asked. "How has that been
developed?"
"As naturally as the silent speech. We have it, and we feel it, in
pictures, in flower gardens, and in landscapes; only with us it is a
frozen music. Living music exists on the earth only in the form of
sonorous vibrations because we have not developed our sense of the
harmony of colors except when they lie dead and motionless before us. A
great painting by Raphael or Turner is to one of these color hymns of
Venus like a printed score, which merely suggests its harmonies, compared
with the same composition when poured forth from a perfect instrument
under the fingers of a master player.
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