288 Mr. Tomlinson on the Theory of [Oct. 



one, without incurring the risk of being laughed at, which 

 he by no means desired.* 



In the case of bodily health and affections of the eye, I 

 have found that, with headache, or slight fever, and some- 

 times with catarrh, or from too long sitting to books or 

 writing, from stooping, in short, from any causes which 

 distend the minute vessels of the retina, &c., with blood, I 

 have seen the accidental tint on once gazing on the primi- 

 tive colour, when my mind has even been engaged on very 

 different subjects. Hence, I presume, the term accidental 

 to arise, from the circumstance of a colour being seen by 

 accident, during the observance of the fundamental tint, or 

 from the colours being supposed accidentally to accompany 

 the fundamental tint. 



6. By a complementary colour, I intend the second colour 

 produced by various peculiar means, generally differing 

 from those employed to obtain accidental colours, and differ- 

 ing from these latter in one distinct point, namely, intensity; 

 for, while the accidental tints are comparatively faint and 

 shadowy, the complementary tints are equal in intensity to 

 the fundamental colour whence they are derived. Both 

 accidental and complementary colours are obtained by the 

 observance of a fundamental colour ; but there is, again, 

 this difference, that accidental tints may be observed when 

 the eye is in total darkness, which I do not believe to be 

 the case with complementary tints. (7), [4.] Thus, nearly 

 all the second colours mentioned in my former papers f are 

 complementary colours, 2i\though I have carelessly confounded 

 the two terms, which shews the necessity of accurately 

 stating the difference between the two, which difference is 

 founded on my own views of this subject, which may be 

 thought by some to be peculiar. Nevertheless, I believe 

 that the distinction I have drawn is strictly correct, inde- 

 pendent of this inquiry. Another important difference, 

 which I shall discuss hereafter, is stated to exist, namely, 



* It may be interesting to phrenologists to notice that, in the first class, the 

 organ of colour was prominent ; in the second, good, but not full ; in the third 

 bad, but not wanting ; and in the last instance it was absent. 



t See the tabular list at page 23 of this volume, where the second, or comple* 

 pentary colours are termed " Ocular Spectra/' 



