3 68 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Words seem to me also more or less definitely colored, but the 

 association of coloration with me arises solely from the letters of 

 which the words are composed. The dominant letters, especially 

 the initial letter, or the letters most conspicuous in pronunciation, 

 give color to the word. Thus Rosalind, though containing but 

 two green letters, has a dominant shade of green, as salvia or silica 

 have of yellow. A pleasing variety in the colors of the letter 

 tends to render a word attractive. Thus the words Vernon, Sev- 

 ern, and Exeter, with contrasted colors, are more attractive than 

 such words as Patton, Hammond, or Armenia, in which the colors 

 are few or not contrasted. This association of color is stronger 

 than that of the names of the colors themselves, for these fail with 

 me instantly to call up the colors they represent. Thus the word 

 red seems decidedly green in its hue, and it seems unnatural to 

 me that so many words beginning with R, as red, roth, rouge, 

 ruber, rufus, and the like, should have come to mean red. The 

 word blue is also largely green, while yellow is very far from the 

 hue indicated by its meaning. 



These letter colors seem for the most part not deep or vivid, 

 but suggest transparent shades like the hues of colored stars, and 

 they are often evanescent where the attention is fastened directly 

 on them. The red, for example, is more like that of the planet 

 Mars than that of a flaming torch. The shades of red vary some- 

 what, from the scarlet of X or Z, in which the colors seem most 

 pronounced, to the reddish brown of a or n, in which the colora- 

 tion is less conspicuous. 



On the basis of these colors I would make the following classi- 

 fication of the alphabet, placing in each category the most posi- 

 tively colored letters first : 



Red, X, Z, F, E, H, A, N. 



Green, R, L, B, T. 



Blue, V, D, Y, K, W, M, P, Q ; the V of a violet shade, 



the M and P lead-color, the Q almost colorless. 



Yellow, S. 



White, O, C. 



Straw-color, G, U. 



Blue-black, I. 



In some cases, as in O, C, G, U, I, J, this supposed coloration is 

 plainly derived from the forms of the letters themselves, the O 

 inclosing most empty space, the I none at all. In some other cases, 

 as E, F, or R, B, W, M, the resemblances of form in the pairs in 

 question may have led to their taking place in the same category, 

 the duller letter taking its place beside the brighter one which it 

 resembles. 



Similar associations take place with the numerals, although to 

 me the coloration of figures seems less vivid than that of letters. 



