This book is meant for college students, and was written to' serve as a text-book for courses in esthetics such as are given in the third or fourth year of the college curriculum. Its first object is to give to students a concise statement of some of the most important facts about esthetic experience and artistic activity. Its second purpose is to stimulate, among students, some interest in the experimental treatment of esthetic prob lems. The references at the end of the several chapters are offered, not as an attempt at a complete bibliography, but as suggestions for fuller reading. My obligations are, I hope, apparent in the text, but it is a pleasure to make special acknowledgments to Professor John Dewey for the general standpoint adopted in this book, also to Professor James R. Angell and Professor James H. Tufts, and to my father for help of various kinds.