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But it is still assumed that a work of art is its content. Or, as it's usually put today, that a work of art by definition says something. ("What X is saying is . . "What X is trying to say is . . . "What X said is . . ” etc., etc.) 4 sustains the fancy that there really is such a thing as the content of a work of art. 5 By interpretation, I mean here a conscious act of the mind which illustrates a certain code, certain “rules” of interpretation. Directed to art, interpretation means plucking a set of elements (the X, the Y, the Z, and so forth ) from the whole work. The task of interpretation is virtually one of translation. The interpreter says, Look, don’t you see that X is really—or, really means—A? That Y is really B? That Z is really C? 5 Thus, interpretation is not (as most people assume) an absolute value, a gesture of mind situated in some timeless realm of capabilities. Interpretation must itself be evaluated, within a historical view of human consciousness...

THE GENESIS OF SPECIES - MIVART 1870   Dedicada a Henry Holland, também um crítico do Origin. v 1 - Introductory The problem of the genesis of species stated.—Nature of its probable solution.—Importance of the question.—Position here defended.— Statement of the DARWINIAN THEORY.—Its applicability to details of geographical distribution ; to rudimentary structures ; to homology ; to mimicry, &c.—Consequent utility of the theory.—Its wide acceptance.—Eeasons for this other than, and in addition to, its scientific value. Its simplicity.—Its bearing on religious questions.—Odium theologicum and odium antitheologicum.—The antagonism supposed by many to exist between it and theology neither necessary nor universal. —Christian authorities in favour of evolution.—Mr. Darwin's ''Animals and Plants under Domestication."—Difficulties of the Darwinian, theory enumerated .  Indivíduo e espécie é uma analogia incompleta. The word "species," on the other hand, denotes a...