Goethe's Theory of ColoursGoethe, Johann Wolfgang von
Philosophy
Goethe's Theory of Colours
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
Color
"As soon as I heard of this circumstance, I at once connected it in
my own mind with the phenomena which I had been so long observing,
and hastened to prove, by a physical experiment, what a clear-sighted
artist had discovered entirely of himself, to his own surprise and
astonishment.
"I had the second[5] entoptic apparatus brought to the spot, and the
effect on this was what might be conjectured from the above statement.
At mid-day, when the artist saw his model best lighted, the north,
direct reflection gave the white cross; in the morning and evening, on
the other hand, when the unfavourable oblique light was so unpleasant
to him, the cube showed the black cross; in the intermediate hours the
state of transition was apparent."
The author proceeds to recall to his memory instances where works of
art had struck him by the beauty of their appearance owing to the light
coming from the quarter opposite the sun, in "direct reflection," and
adds, "Since these decided effects are thus traceable to their cause,
the friends of art, in looking at and exhibiting pictures, may enhance
the enjoyment to themselves and others by attending to a fortunate
reflection."
[1] The numbers, as usual, indicate the corresponding paragraphs in the
original.
[2] In the historical part, Goethe has to speak of so many followers of
Newton who begin their statements with "Si per foramen exiguum," that
the term is a sort of by-word with him.
[3] At mid-day on the 24th of June the author observed the white cross
reflected from every part of the horizon. At a certain distance from
the sun, corresponding, he supposes, with the extent of halos, the
black cross appeared.
[4] Whence the term _entoptic_.
[5] Before described: the author describes several others more or less
complicated, and suggests a portable one. "Such plates, which need
only be an inch and a quarter square, placed on each other to form a
cube, might be set in a brass case, open above and below. At one end of
this case a black mirror with a hinge, acting like a cover, might be
fastened. We recommend this simple apparatus, with which the principal
and original experiment may be readily made. With this we could, in the
longest days, better define the circle round the sun where the black
cross appears," &c.
NOTE T.--Par. 496.
"Since Goethe wrote, all the earths have been decomposed, and have
been shown to be metallic bases united with oxygen; but this does not
invalidate his statement."--S. F.
NOTE U.--Par. 502.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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