On Distinction and Vulgarity of Motion.
Motion generally has its reäction; a projected body rebounds and it is this rebound which we call the reäction of the motion.
Rebounding bodies are agreeable to the eye. Lack of elasticity in a body is disagreeable from the fact that lacking suppleness, it seems as if it must, in falling, be broken, flattened or injured; in a word, must lose something of the integrality of its form. It is, therefore, the reäction of a body which proves its elasticity, and which, by this very quality, gives us a sort of pleasure in witnessing a fall, which apart from this reäction could not be other than disagreeable. Therefore, elasticity of dynamic motions is a prime necessity from the point of view of charm.
In the vulgar man there is no reäction. In the man of distinction, on the contrary, motion is of slight extent and reäction is enormous. Reäction is both slow and rapid.