GOETHE'S FARBENLEHRE. 217 



which had previously converted the world to Newton's views, on ap- 

 pealing to the mind of Goethe, produced a theory of light and colors 

 in violent antagonism, to that of Newton. 



Goethe prized the " Farbenlehre " as the most important of his 

 works. " In what I have done as a poet," he says to Eckermann, " I 

 take no pride, but I am proud of the fact that I am the only person in 

 this century who is acquainted with the difficult science of colors." 

 If the importance of a work were to be measured by the amount of 

 conscious labor expended in its production, Goethe's estimate of the 

 "Farbenlehre" would probably be correct. The observations and 

 experiments there recorded astonish us by their variety and number. 

 The amount of reading which he accomplished was obviously vast. 

 He pursued the history of optics, not only along its main streams, but 

 on to its remotest rills. He was animated by the zeal of an apostle, 

 for he believed that a giant imposture was to be overthrown, and that 

 he was the man to accomplish the holy work of destruction. He was 

 also a lover of art, and held that the enunciation of the true principles 

 of color would, in relation to painting, be of lasting importance. Thus 

 positively and negatively he was stimulated to bring all the strength he 

 could command to bear upon this question. 



The greater part of the first volume is taken up with Goethe's own 

 experiments, which are described in nine hundred and twenty para- 

 graphs duly numbered. It is not a consecutive argument, but rather 

 a series of jets of fact and logic emitted at various intervals. I pic- 

 ture the poet in that troublous war-time, walking up and down his 

 Weimar garden, with his hands behind his back, pondering his sub- 

 ject, throwing his experiments and reflections into these terse para- 

 graphs, and turning occasionally into his garden-house to write them 

 down. This first portion of the work embraces three parts, which deal 

 respectively with Physiological or Subjective Colors, with Physical 

 or Prismatic Colors, and with Chemical Colors and Pigments. To 

 these are added a fourth part, bearing the German title " Allgemeine 

 Ansichten nach innen " ; a fifth part, entitled " Nachbarliche Verhalt- 

 nisse," neighboring relations ; and a sixth part, entitled " Sinnlich- 

 sittliche Wirkung der Farbe," sensuously-moral effect of colors. It 

 is hardly necessary to remark that some of these titles, though doubt- 

 less pregnant with meaning to the poet himself, are not likely to com- 

 mend themselves to the more exacting man of science. 



The main divisions of Goethe's book are subdivided into short sec- 

 tions, bearing titles more or less shadowy from a scientific point of 

 view : Origin of White ; Origin of Black ; Excitement of Color ; 

 Heightening ; Culmination ; Balancing ; Reversion ; Fixation ; Mix- 

 ture real ; Mixture apparent ; Communication actual ; Communication 

 apparent. He describes the colors of minerals, plants, worms, insects, 

 fishes, birds, mammals, and men. Hair on the surface of the human 

 body he considers indicative rather of weakness than of strength. 



