Colour vision : $b Being the Tyndall Lectures delivered in 1894 at the Royal InstitutionAbney, William de Wiveleslie, Sir
Science
Colour vision : $b Being the Tyndall Lectures delivered in 1894 at the Royal Institution
Abney, William de Wiveleslie, Sir
Color vision
If a similar examination be made of the green-blind, the red end of the
spectrum will be called red or yellow, but the spectrum itself will
be visible between the same limits as it is to the person who has the
normal sense of vision. A grey stripe will be seen in the spectrum, but
in this case it will be a trifle nearer the red end of the spectrum
than the point which the red-blind calls grey; from this point to
the extreme violet, the green-blind will name the spectrum colours
similarly to the red-blind. The part of the spectrum where grey exists
to the green-blind is even more important than that part at which it
exists to red-blind, for it marks the place where the red and violet
curves cut each other in Fig. 16, and is in the majority of cases the
place in the spectrum where to the normal eye the green sensation is
unmixed with any sensation except that of white, as quite recently
explained. This green evidently is the colour which is most usefully
employed in making colour mixtures in order to obtain the three
sensation curves of the Young theory, since white can be added to the
colour matched. To avoid verbiage, we shall call the points where the
red- or green-blind see a grey in the spectrum their neutral points,
and the grey they see at those points their neutral colours. The three
curves we shall call the red, green, or violet curves, and the slits,
when placed in the red, green, or violet of the spectrum, as the red,
green, and violet slits.
We have already mentioned the case of those who possess monochromatic
vision, and shown in what respect they will differ in their description
of the spectrum from those more common cases of defective vision. If
the visual sensation they possess be the violet, they will see no light
at the extreme red of the spectrum, and very little in the orange. They
must match every colour with some shade of grey, for they will only
perceive that sensation, in what to ordinary normal eyes is white.
We need not detail how those who possess monochromatic vision due to
some other sensation would describe the different colours. The diagram
will tell us. Suffice it to say, that one colour will only differ from
another and from white in brightness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account