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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



little surprising ; it has the rare merit of 

 being written in a style suited to its object. 

 It is clear, simple, direct, and puts the mat- 

 ter before the reader in a straightforward, 

 common-sense way, so as thoroughly to in- 

 terest him in the subject. 



The work is full of fresh illustrations, 

 drawn by the author, and exhibiting new 

 points and relations of the subject, and a 

 chromatic plate is prefixed to the volume, 

 which has something the character of a key, 

 and will be specially useful to those who 

 may desire to color the diagrams in the 

 book. One of the most interesting features 

 of the volume is the large number of in- 

 structive and attractive experiments in col- 

 ors which it describes or indicates. 



The work is strictly systematic, and 

 treats the subject of chromatics comprehen- 

 sively, as will be seen by glancing at the 

 titles of the chapters.* We can give no 

 idea of the real scope of the work by any 

 analysis of its contents, or even a conspec- 

 tus of the new ideas and suggestions con- 

 tributed by the author ; but some of his 

 observations in Chapter XVIII., on " Color 

 in Painting and Decoration," are so sugges- 

 tive in relation to a subject occupying a 

 good deal of public attention at present, 

 that we quote them : 



The aims of painting and decorative art are 

 quite divergent, and as a logical consequence it 

 results that the use made by them of color is es- 

 sentially different. The object of painting is tho 

 production, by the use of color, of more or less 

 perfect representations of natural objects. These 

 attempts are always made in a serious spirit ; 

 that is, they are always accompanied by some 

 earnest effort at realization. If the work is done 

 directly from nature, and is at the same time 



* Chapter I., Transmission and Reflection of 

 Light ; II., Production of Color by Dispersion ; 

 III., Constants of Color ; IV., Production of Col- 

 or by Interference and Polarization ; V., Colors 

 of Opalescent Media; VI., Production of Color 

 by Fluorescence and Phosphorescence ; VII., 

 Production of Color by Absorption; VIII., Ab- 

 normal Perception of Color and Color-Blind- 

 ness; IX., Young's Theory of Color; X., Mix- 

 ture of Colors ; XI., Complementary Colors ; 

 XII., Effects produced on Color by a Change of 

 Luminosity, and by mixing it with White Light ; 

 XIII., Duration of the Impression on the Retina; 

 XIV., Modes of arranging Colors in Systems ; 

 XV., Contrast ; XVI., The Small Interval and 

 Gradation ; XVII. , Combinations of Colors in 

 Pairs and Triads ; XVIII., Painting and Deco- 

 ration. Note on Two Recent Theories of Color. 

 Index. 



elaborate, it will consist of an attempt to repre- 

 sent, not all the facts presented by the scene, 

 but only certain classes of facts, namely, such as 

 are considered by the artist most important or 

 most pictorial, or to harmonize best with each 

 other. If it is a mere sketch, it will include not 

 nearly so many facts ; and finally, if it is merely 

 a rough color-note, it will contain perhaps only 

 a few suggestions belonging to a single class. 

 But in all this apparently careless and rough 

 work the painter really deals with form, light 

 and shade, and color, in a serious spirit, the 

 conventionalisms that are introduced being ne- 

 cessitated by lack of time or by choice of certain 

 classes of facts to the exclusion of others. The 

 same is true of imaginative painting : the form, 

 light and shade, and color are such as might ex- 

 ist or might be imagined to exist ; our funda- 

 mental notions about these matters are not flat- 

 ly contradicted. From this it follows that the 

 painter is to a considerable extent restricted in 

 the choice of his tints ; he must mainly use the 

 pale unsaturated colors of nature, and must often 

 employ color-combinations that would be reject- 

 ed by the decorator. Unlike the latter, he makes 

 enormous use of gradation in light and shade 

 and in color; labors to express distance, and 

 strives to carry the eye beneath the surface of 

 his pigments ; is delighted to hide as it were his 

 very color, and to leave the observer in doubt as 

 to its nature. 



In decorative art, on the other hand, the 

 main objeet is to beautify a surface by the use 

 of color rather than to give a representation of 

 the facts of nature. Rich and intense colors are 

 often selected, and their effect is heightened 

 by the free use of gold and silver or white and 

 black ; combinations are chosen for their beauty 

 and effectiveness, and no serious effort is made 

 to lead the eye under the surface. Accurate 

 representations of natural objects are avoided ; 

 conventional substitutes are used; they serve to 

 give variety and furnish an excuse for the intro- 

 duction of color, which should be beautiful in 

 itself apart from any reference to the object rep- 

 resented. Accurate, realistic representations of 

 natural objects mark the decline and decay of 

 decorative art. A painting is a representation 

 of something which is not present ; an orna- 

 mented surface is essentially not a represen- 

 tation of a beautiful absent object, but is the 

 beautiful object itself; and we dislike to see it 

 forsaking its childlike independence and at- 

 tempting at the name time both to be and to 

 represent something beautiful. Again, orna- 

 mental color is used for the production of a re- 

 sult which is delightful, while in painting the 

 aim of the artist may be to represent sorrow, or 

 even a tragic effect. From all this it follows that 

 the ornamenter enjoys an amount of freedom in 

 the original construction of his chromatic com- 

 position which is denied to the painter, who is 

 compelled by profession to treat nature with at 

 least a fair degree of seeming respect. The gen- 

 eral structure of the color-composition, how- 

 ever, being once determined, the fancy and po- 

 etic feeling even of the decorator are compelled 

 to play within limits more narrow than would 



