362 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



displayed in a well-lighted corner of the laboratory, bearing the 

 inscription shown on page 363. 



This method of voting was made possible by having on hand 

 a constant supply of small cards, each bearing a number from 

 1 to 25, and arranged in numerical order in small boxes or 

 trays. Of such boxes there were two sets, one containing square 

 and the other oblong cards. By means of these devices the sliape 

 of each card dropped into the ballot box indicated the sex of the 

 voter ; the printed number on its face indicated the voter's favorite 

 color ; the letter ivritten on its back, his preferred combination of 

 colors ; the number written on its back, his age ; and the fact that 

 all this information was recorded on one card established the 

 relation between the preferred single color and the preferred com- 

 bination of colors. 



The colors thus displayed were those bearing these names in 

 the series of colored papers prepared by the Prang Educational 

 Company, and to Mr. Prang my obligations are due for very ma- 

 terial assistance in this investigation. I am also indebted to Dr. 

 Herbert Nichols and Mrs. M. D. Hicks for the selection and 

 arrangement of the colors and the permission to use the color 

 scheme prepared by them for the study of color preferences. In 

 such a study only a small and somewhat arbitrarily selected 

 range of colors can be conveniently presented, and it is likely 

 that the results may be to some extent influenced by the particu- 

 lar colors among which a choice was requested. Regarding the 

 nature of the colors here presented, it may be noted that the 

 twenty-four single colors fall into two groups of twelve each, the 

 second group forming respectively the lighter shades (in the same 

 order) of the colors in the first group. Each group of twelve 

 colors is composed of the six " primary " or " normal " shades of 

 the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, and of six inter- 

 mediate or transitional colors red orange, orange yellow, etc. In 

 the color combinations no transitional colors are used, and, so far 

 as is possible in twenty-four combinations, a wide range of group- 

 ing and combination is presented. 



The material thus gathered, about four thousand five hundred 

 records in all, may be considered from a variety of points of view, 

 and may be made to furnish interesting information regarding 

 the range and distribution of average color preferences. We shall 

 consider first the preferences for the single colors and for color 

 combinations as they occur in the general average, and then 

 ascertain how far these preferences are modified by difiierences in 

 sex and in age.* 



* During the two months or more during which the public was invited to vote its color 

 preferences 4,556 cards were dropped into the box, 2,746 (about three fifths) by men and 



