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
You have been taken through much experimental work, and possibly it
may be thought that there has been too much of it; but now that we
are coming to the more practical part of the subject, it will become
apparent that a good working hypothesis is absolutely necessary before
effectual tests for colour vision can be carried out, and that the
reasons for its adoption should be given in full. The question of
colour blindness is one of very practical importance, as in certain
occupations it is essential that colours should be accurately and
quickly known, and that no guess-work should be allowed. Lives have
without doubt been lost by a want of proper knowledge of colours,
both at sea and on railways. The evidence that such is the case is,
as a rule, it is true, merely negative, though there are cases extant
where great losses which have occurred can be traced to a deficiency
in colour perception. If there be no proper system of tests for
ascertaining the defects of signal or look-out men in their colour
sense, it is palpable that positive evidence cannot be forthcoming,
and this is very much the state of things which exists up to the
present time. We hear of collisions at sea and vessels foundering
in consequence of the rule of the road not being followed, but at
the investigations which follow we have no record that the question
of colour perception of the look-out man has been gone into, though
there may be conflicting evidence as to whether a red light or a green
light was shown. That danger from colour blindness is incurred has for
some time been recognised by the Board of Trade, as it insists that
all officers of the Mercantile Marine must be tested for their sense
of colour, and that their certificates must be endorsed as having
failed to pass the colour test should they do so. For my own part,
I think endorsement of their certificate is quite inadequate, for
it is still open for shipowners to employ them (of course at their
own risk). A rejection for colour vision should entail a withholding
of the certificate altogether; for it surely is as dangerous that a
signal should be misread as it is that the logarithm of the sine of
an angle should be misunderstood. If a candidate fails in theoretical
navigation, he is not allowed a certificate, but if he only fails in
a very practical part of his examination, his certificate is merely
endorsed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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