428 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



logical, ornithological, and zoological de- 

 scriptions. In applied science, in the arts, 

 and in chemistry the inconvenience has, if 

 possible, been even greater, and the rapid 

 advance in the art of dyeing alone makes 

 some system of color nomenclature absolute- 

 ly necessary. Mr. J. H. Pilsbury, who has 

 been working for some years to perfect a 

 practical system, contributed an article on 

 the subject to a recent copy of Nature. 

 He says : " In order that any fixed scheme 

 of color nomenclature may be of some prac- 

 tical value, it must of course be readily un- 

 derstood by people of ordinary intelligence, 

 and must be complete enough to meet the 

 ordinary wants of everyday life. There 

 must be something that is so completely 

 fixed as to be perfectly trustworthy for pres- 

 ent and future needs. In the solar spec- 

 trum we have an invariable source from 

 which to derive our spectrum standards, and 

 upon these the whole scheme is to be based. 

 Since the six spectrum standard (red, 6,587 ; 

 orange, 6,085 ; yellow, 5,793 ; green, 5,164; 

 blue, 4,695; violet, 4,210 the numbers in- 

 dicate the wave-lengths in ten millionths of a 

 millimetre) do not give a very extensive reper- 

 toire for common use, to say nothing of the 

 needs of the more artistic, it was proposed 

 to introduce between each two spectrum 

 standards two intermediate hues to be 

 formed by the union of two spectrum stand- 

 ards in definite proportions. Thus be- 

 tween orange and red would be introduced 



an orange- red and a red-orange. 



It is 



also very desirable that the standards be pro- 

 duced in some material form in order that it 

 be of any practical value. The task of re- 

 producing the brilliant hues of the solar 

 spectrum in pigmentary material or in glass 

 is much more difficult than one not ac- 

 quainted with the matter would suspect. In 

 order to accomplish this, it has been found 

 necessary to use the somewhat fugitive ani- 

 line colors." The colors thus produced, with 

 the addition of black and white, give a fairly 

 satisfactory system. In a later number of 

 the same journal Herbert Spencer has a let- 

 ter in which he suggests a scheme for color- 

 naming, composed of terms patterned after 

 those used in the compass for denoting 

 direction ; giving a form : Red, red by 

 blue, red red blue, red blue by red, red blue, 

 red blue by blue, blue red blue, blue by red. 



blue. He says : " Of course, these names 

 would be names of pure colors only, the pri- 

 maries and their mixtures with one another ; 

 but the method might be expanded by the 

 use of numbers to each, 1, 2, 3, signifying 

 proportions of added neutral tint subduing 

 the color, so as to produce gradations of im- 

 purity." 



KindergarteniDg in a New Role. There 

 is to be opened in Boston this fall a kinder- 

 garten settlement, to be known as the Eliza- 

 beth Peabody House. It is designed as a 

 memorial to Elizabeth Peabody, who did so 

 much, in the early days of kindergartening, 

 to help the cause. The plan is to take a 

 house in some poor and crowded quarter, and 

 officer it with a group of eight or ten kin- 

 dergarteners, normal students, and teach- 

 ers. They will conduct a kindergarten, and 

 through acquaintance with the children enter 

 into friendly and helpful relations with the 

 people of the neighborhood. Interesting plans 

 are under consideration for a cooking school, 

 a training class for nursery maids, and for 

 mothers' clubs and classes, where helpful 

 hints may be given as to the care of chil- 

 dren and of the home. 



Fisli-bait Farms. Fine openings for new 

 industries are discovered by Dr. W. A. Herd- 

 man, President of the Zoological Section of 

 the British Association, in the cultivation of 

 supplies for fishermen. The Scotch long-line 

 fishermen alone, he says, use nearly a hun- 

 dred millions of mussels every time all the 

 lines are set, and many tons of them have to 

 be imported every year. If squid could be 

 obtained reasonably and in sufficient quantity, 

 it would probably prove more valuable even 

 than mussels. A fishing firm in Aberdeen last 

 winter paid more than two hundred pounds 

 for squid bait for a single boat's lines from 

 October to December, and there are fifty such 

 boats north of the Tyne. " Here is a nice 

 little industry for any one who can capture 

 or cultivate the common squid in quantity." 

 Innumerable young mussels perish around 

 the coasts every year for want of suitable 

 objects to attach to. The erection of proper 

 stakes or plain houchots would serve a use- 

 ful purpose, at any rate in the collection of 

 seed. Dr. Herdman further pointed out the 

 opportunity that exists for opulent laud- 



