The Cornhill Magazine (Vol. I, No. 4, April 1860)Various
General
The Cornhill Magazine (Vol. I, No. 4, April 1860)
Various
England -- Periodicals; English literature -- Periodicals; Short stories, English -- Periodicals
The case of the colour-blind person is the converse. He sees, it is true,
no green in the fields, or on the trees, no shade of pink mantling in
the countenance, no brilliant scarlet in the geranium flower, but still
he talks of these things as if he saw them, _and he believes he does see
them_, until by a long process of investigation he finds out that the
idea he receives from them is very different from that received by his
fellows. He often, however, lives on for years, and many have certainly
lived out their lives without guessing at their deficiency.
These results of physical defects of certain kinds remaining totally
unknown, either to the subject of them or his friends, even when all
are educated and intelligent, are certainly very curious; but it will
readily be seen that they are inevitable in the present development of
our faculties. In almost everything, whether moral or intellectual, we
measure our fellows by our own standard. He whose faculties are powerful,
and whose intellect is clear, looks over the cloud that hovers over lower
natures, and wonders why they, too, will not see truth and right as he
sees them. Those, on the other hand, who dwell below among the mists
of error and the trammels of prejudice, will not believe that their
neighbour, intellectually loftier, sees clearly over the fog and malaria
of their daily atmosphere.
In taking leave of the question of colour blindness, it should be
mentioned that hitherto no case has been recorded in which this defect
extends to any other ray than the red.
There seems no reason for this, and possibly, if they were looked for,
cases might be found in which the insensibility of the optic nerve had
reference to the blue instead of the red ray—the least instead of the
most refrangible part of the beam of light. It would also be well worth
the trial if those who have any reason to suppose that they enjoy a
superiority of vision would determine by actual experiment the extent
of their unusual powers, and learn whether they refer to an optical
appreciation of the chemical or heat rays, or show any modification of
the solar spectrum by enlargement or otherwise.
Lastly, it would be well, when children show an unusual difficulty in
describing colours, to try by some such experiments as those here related
whether any defect of colour blindness exists or not. It would clearly be
undesirable that such children as have this defect should waste time in
learning accomplishments or professions which they must always be unable
to practise. They, their parents and teachers, may thus be saved some of
that disappointment which is always experienced when presumed tastes and
talents are cultivated or forced contrary to the natural powers of the
individual. It must clearly be hopeless to endeavour to obtain good taste
in colours, when most of the colours themselves are not seen at all, or
are so recognized as to present appearances altogether different from
those seen by the rest of the world.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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