The Hunterian lectures on colour-vision and colour-blindnessEdridge-Green, F. W. (Frederick William)
Science
The Hunterian lectures on colour-vision and colour-blindness
Edridge-Green, F. W. (Frederick William)
Color blindness
Nearly all colours are compound; that is to say, the coloured body
reflects other rays than those of the colour seen. Thus a blue-green
glass may transmit the green, blue, and violet rays of the spectrum.
Let us suppose that we have a substance reflecting the green, blue,
and three-quarters of the violet, the colour of the body to a normal
person being green. Then if we had another substance which reflected
the whole of the violet, it would appear blue. But with a person who
could not perceive the terminal fourth of the violet the colour would
look exactly the same as the green one, and as he could not distinguish
between the two he would be in continual difficulty with blues and
greens. All coloured objects reflecting rays occupying the missing
portion appear darker than they do to the normal-sighted, and are
always matched with darker colours belonging to a point more internal.
Thus a dichromic with a shortened red end of the spectrum matches a red
with a darker green.
It will be noticed that a shortened spectrum, especially if one
end only be affected, may interfere very little with the general
appreciation of shade. If, for instance, we take a case in which the
red end of the spectrum is shortened, so that only three-quarters
of the red of the normal-sighted is seen, then all bodies which
equally reflect or transmit these rays can be correctly compared,
because a similar portion of light has been removed from each. It is
only when one colour reflects or transmits the rays occupying the
shortened portion, and the other does not, that there is any definite
interference with the appreciation of shade. Again, if neither colour
reflects or transmits rays occupying the shortened portion of the
spectrum, there will obviously be no interference with the appreciation
of shade.
A very common mistake due to shortening of the red end of the spectrum
is the confusion of pink and blue. If a person with considerable
shortening of the red end of the spectrum is shown a pink which is made
up of a mixture of red and violet, the red consisting of rays occupying
the missing portion of the spectrum, only the violet is visible to him,
and so the pink appears a violet without a trace of red. This pink is
therefore matched with a violet or blue very much darker than itself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account