Experiments and Considerations Touching Colours (1664)Boyle, Robert
History
Experiments and Considerations Touching Colours (1664)
Boyle, Robert
Color -- Early works to 1800; Colors -- Early works to 1800
The Green and Purple left us somewhat in suspence which Reflected the most
Light; only the Purple seem'd to have some little Advantage over the Green,
which was Dark in its kind.
Thus much I find in our above mention'd _Collections_, among which there
are also some Notes concerning the Production of _Compounded Colours_, _by
Reflection_ from Bodyes differingly Colour'd. And these Notes we intended
should supply us with what we should mention as our second Experiment: but
having lost the Paper that contain'd the Particulars, and remembring onely
in General, that if the Objects which Reflected the Light were not Strongly
Colour'd and somewhat Glossy, the Reflected Beams would not manifestly make
a Compounded Colour upon the Wall, and even then but very Faintly, we shall
now say no more of that Matter, only reserving our selves to mention
hereafter the Composition of a Green, which we still retain in Memory.
_EXPERIMENT II._
We may add, _Pyrophilus_, on this Occasion, that though a Darken'd Room be
Generally thought requisite to make the Colour of a Body appear by
Reflection from another Body, that is not one of those that are commonly
agreed upon to be Specular (as Polish'd Metall, Quick silver, Glass, Water,
&c.) Yet I have often observ'd that when I wore Doublets Lin'd with some
silken Stuff that was very Glossy and Vividly Colour'd, especially Red, I
could in an Inlightned Room plainly enough Discern the Colour, upon the
Pure White Linnen that came out at my Sleeve and reach'd to my Cufs; as if
that Fine White Body were more Specular, than Colour'd and Unpolish'd
Bodyes are thought Capable of being.
_EXPERIMENT III._
Whilst we were making the newly mention'd Experiments, we thought fit to
try also what Composition of Colours might be made by Altering the Light in
its Passage to the Eye by the Interposition not of Perfectly Diaphanous
Bodies, (that having been already try'd by others as well as by us (as we
shall soon have occasion to take notice) but of Semi-opacous Bodyes, and
those such as look'd upon in an ordinary Light, and not held betwixt it and
the Eye, are not wont to be Discriminated from the rest of Opacous Bodyes;
of this Tryal, our mention'd _Adversaria_ present us the following Account.
Holding these Sheets, sometimes one sometimes the other of them, before the
Hole betwixt the Sun and the Eye, with the Colour'd sides obverted to the
Sun; we found them _single_ to be somewhat Transparent, and appear of the
same Colour as before, onely a little alter'd by the great Light they were
plac'd in; but laying _two_ of them one over another and applying them so
to the Hole, the Colours were compounded as follows.
The Blew and Yellow scarce exhibited any thing but a Darker Yellow, which
we ascrib'd to the Coarseness of the Blew Papers, and its Darkness in its
Kind. For applying the Blew parts of the Marbl'd Paper with the Yellow
Paper after the same manner, they exhibited a good Green.
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