Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

IMAGE (Lat. imago, perhaps from the s...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V14, Page 329 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

IMAGE (See also:Lat. imago, perhaps from the same See also:root as imitari, copy, imitate)  , in See also:general, a copy, See also:representation, exact See also:counter-See also:part of something else . Thus the reflection of a See also:person in a See also:mirror is known as his " See also:image " ; in popular usage one person is similarly described as " the very image " of another; so in See also:entomology the See also:term is applied in its Latin See also:form imago to an See also:insect which, having passed through its larval stages, has achieved its full typical development . The term is in fact susceptible of two opposite connotations; on the one See also:hand, it implies that the thing to which it is applied is only a copy; on the other that as a copy it is faithful and accurate . See also:Psychology (q.v.) recognizes two uses of the term . The simplest is for the impression made by an observed See also:object on the retina, the See also:eye; in this connexion the term " after-image " (better " after-sensation ") is used for an image which remains when the eye is withdrawn from a brilliantly lighted object; it is called See also:positive when the See also:colour remains the same, negative when the complementary See also:colours are seen . The strict psychological use of the term " image " is by See also:analogy from the physiological for a purely See also:mental See also:idea which is taken as being observed by the eye of the mind . These images are created or produced not by an See also:external stimulus, such as is necessary for a visual image (even the after-image is due to the continued excitement of the same See also:organ), but by a mental See also:act of See also:reproduction . The simplest ideational image, which has been described as the See also:primary memory-image, is " the peculiarly vivid and definite ideal representation of an object which we can maintain or recall by a suitable effort of See also:attention immediately after perceiving it " (Stout) . For this no external stimulus is required, and as compared with the after-image it represents the See also:objects in See also:perspective just as they might be seen in See also:perception . This is characteristic of all mental images . The essential requisite for this primaryimage is that the attention should have been fixed upon the impressions . The relation between sense-impressions and mental images is a highly complicated one .

Difference in intensity is not a wholly satisfactory ground of distinction; abnormal See also:

physical conditions apart, an image may have an intensity far greater than that of a sense-given impression . On the other hand, See also:Hume is certainly right in holding that the distinctive See also:character of a percept as compared with an image is in all See also:ordinary cases the force and liveliness with which it strikes the mind—the distinction, therefore, being one of quality, not of degree . A distinction of some importance is found in the " See also:superior steadiness " (See also:Ward) of impressions; while looking at any set of surroundings, images of many different scenes may pass through the mind, each one of which is immediately distinguished from the impression of the actual See also:scene before the eyes . This arises partly, no doubt, from the fact that the perception has clear localization, which the image has not . In many cases indeed an image even of a most See also:familiar scene is exceedingly vague and inaccurate . In See also:Art the term is used for a representation or likeness of an animate or inanimate object, particularly of the figure of a person in See also:sculpture or See also:painting . The most general application of the word is to such a representation when used as an object of religious See also:worship or See also:adoration, or as a decorative or architectural See also:ornament in places of religious worship . The worship of images, or See also:idolatry, from the point of view of See also:comparative See also:religion, is treated in the See also:article IMAGE-WORSHIP, and the See also:history of the attitude of the See also:Christian See also:church, outside the See also:post-See also:Reformation church of See also:England, towards the use of images as objects of worship and religion in the article See also:ICONOCLASTS . With regard to the Pre-Reformation See also:period in England, it is of See also:interest to See also:note that by the constitutions of See also:Archbishop Winchelsey, 1305, it was the See also:duty of the See also:parish to provide for the parish church, among other objects, the images of See also:Christ on the See also:Cross, of the See also:saint to whom the church was dedicated, to be placed in the See also:chancel, and of other See also:saints . The injunctions of See also:Edward VI., 1547, ordered the destruction of all images that had been the objects of superstitious use, and the act of 1549 (3 & 4 Edw . VI. c . 10) declared all such images illegal .

This act, repealed in See also:

Mary's reign, was revived in 1604 (, See also:James I. c . 25) and is still in force . The See also:present effect of this unrepealed act, as stated in See also:Boyd v . Philpotts (L.R . 6 P.C . 449), is that it only referred to the images then subject to abuse, which had been ordered to be removed, and did not refer to the subsequent use or abuse of other images . In Article XXII. of the Articles of Religion it is laid down that " the Romish See also:Doctrine concerning . . . Worshipping and Adoration as well of Images as of Reliques . . . is a fond thing mainly invented and grounded on no See also:warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of See also:God." The See also:law in regard to images, which in this connexion include pictures and stained-See also:glass windows, but not sculptured See also:effigies on monuments or merely ornamental See also:work, is contained in various judicial decisions, and is not defined by See also:statute . The effect of these decisions is thus summarized in the See also:report of the Royal See also:Commission on Ecclesiastical Discipline, 1906: " Such images are lawful as objects of decoration in a church, but are unlawful if they are made, or are in danger of being made, objects of superstitious reverence, contrary to Article XXII. against the worshipping and adoration of images . In accordance with this view, crosses, if not placed on the See also:Holy Table, and aLso crucifixes, if part only of a sculptured See also:design or architectural decoration, have been declared lawful .

The question whether a crucifix or See also:

rood See also:standing alone or combined with figures of the Blessed Virgin and St See also:John can, in any circumstances, be regarded as merely decorative, has given rise to a difference of judicial See also:opinion and appears to be unsettled." Speaking generally, articles of decoration and embellishment not used in the services cannot lawfully be introduced into a church without the consent of the ordinary given by a See also:faculty, the granting of which is subject to the judicial discretion of the See also:chancellor or See also:commissary, sitting as See also:judge of the See also:bishop's See also:court . By See also:section 8 of the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874, complainants may take proceedings if it is considered that " any alteration in, or addition to, the fabric, ornaments or See also:furniture has been made without legal authority, or that any decoration forbidden by law has been introduced into such church . . . provided that no proceedings shall be taken ... if such alteration or addition has been completed five years before the commencement of such proceedings." The following are the See also:principal cases on the subject: in Boyd v . Philpotts, 1874 (L.R., 4 Ad . & Ec . 297; 6 P.C . 435), the See also:Exeter See also:reredos See also:case, the privy See also:council, See also:reversing the bishop's See also:judgment, allowed the structure, which contained sculptures in high See also:relief of the See also:Ascension, Trans-figuration and Descent of the Holy See also:Ghost at See also:Pentecost, together with a cross and angels; in R. v. the Bishop of See also:London, 1889 (23 Q.B.D . 414, 24 Q.B.D . 213), the St See also:Paul's reredos case, the bishop refused further proceedings against the legality of a structure containing sculptured figures of Christ on the Cross and the Virgin and See also:Child . In See also:Clifton v . Ridsdale, 1876 (1 P . £~ D., 316), a See also:metal crucifix on the centre of the chancel See also:screen was declared illegal as being in danger of being used superstitiously, and in the same case pictures or rather coloured reliefs representing the " Stations of the Cross " were ordered to be removed on the ground that they had been erected without a faculty, and were also considered unlawful by See also:Lord See also:Penzance as connected with certain superstitious devotion authorized by the See also:Roman church .

End of Article: IMAGE (Lat. imago, perhaps from the same root as imitari, copy, imitate)
[back]
IM (K2+a2+h2—2 ah cos 0)
[next]
IMAGE WORSHIP

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.