Red breaks and diffuses with white with peculiar loveliness. It is discordant when standing with orange only, requiring to be joined or accompanied by their proper contrast, to resolve or harmonize the dissonance. In landscapes, &c., abounding with hues allied to green, a red object properly placed as regards light, shade, or distance, conduces wonderfully to the life, beauty, harmony, and connexion of the colouring. Red is, indeed, the chief element of beauty in floral nature, the prime ornament of the green garb of the vegetal kingdom. Being the most _positive_ of colours, and holding the middle station of the primaries, red contrasts and harmonizes with black and white, which are the _negative_ powers or neutrals of colours, and the extremes of the scale. Moreover, as red is less nearly allied to black or shade than to white or light, this harmony is most remarkable in the union or opposition of white and red, and this contrast most powerful in black and red. As a primary and simple colour, red cannot be composed by mixture of other colours. So much is it the instrument of beauty in nature and art in flesh, flowers, &c., that good pigments of this genus are most indispensable. On the whole, the palette cannot be considered so well furnished with reds as with yellows. Especially is there wanting a permanent transparent scarlet, a colour for which a prize of £500 has for many years been offered by the Society of Arts. 68. CADMIUM RED. The deep, pale, and lemon yellows which cadmium at first afforded, were followed by an orange, which has quite recently been succeeded by a red. This is a most vivid orange-scarlet, the red predominating, of exceeding depth, and intense fire. It is a simple original pigment, containing no base but cadmium, and possessing a large amount of latent colour. It is more orange in hue than vermilion, and has the advantages of flowing and drying well, of greater brilliancy, of retaining that brilliancy when dry, and of considerable transparency. Hence this red is preferably employed where opacity is to be avoided--in sunset clouds for instance. As day declines or by artificial light, the colour approaches very nearly to a deep pure scarlet; and the best substitute for a permanent transparent scarlet which has yet been obtained is furnished by admixture of cadmium red with madder carmine, or by using the latter as a glaze. Compounded with white, the red yields a series of fine flesh tints; and it mixes readily and safely with other colours. Without harshness or rankness, neither injured by an impure atmosphere nor exposure to light and air, cadmium red is eligible in every department of art, enamel painting only excepted. In illumination, the red contrasted by viridian will be found most beautiful and effective. Seeing that previous to its introduction the number of bright reds, not being crimson, nor of a crimson cast, was limited to vermilions, pure scarlet, red chrome, and red lead, of which the first alone were