COLOR-BLINDNESS IN ITS RELATION TO ACCIDENTS BY RAIL 



AND SEA. 



By F. Holmgren, 



Professor of Physiology at the University of Upsal. 



[Translated for the Smithsonian Institution by M. L. Duncan.]* 



INTEODUCTION. 



In several preceding memoirs I have treated the subject of colorblind- 

 ness from the theoretical side of this singular phenomenon. But it has, 

 likewise, a practical side of vast importance j for not only does this de- 

 fect of vision every day give rise to inconveniences in the various depart- 

 ments of the sciences, arts, and industries, but it is also the cause of most 

 disastrous accidents by rail and by sea. Public attention has been 

 attracted to this side of the question by scientific works or by accidents, 

 and to judge from certain facts reported in books and newspapers, there 

 now seems to prevail a more general conviction of the necessity of making 

 the sense of color amongst seamen and railway employes an object of 

 official scrutiny and control in order to guard against this hidden danger, 

 to which too little attention has been given. Our times are probably 

 ripe for such a reform, and there is only wanting, it seems, for its imme- 

 diate and general adoption, a practical method, a well-arranged plan, 

 and initiatory energy. It is to supply these deficiencies that we have 

 undertaken and published these pages. 



To Sweden belongs the honor of having taken the initiative iu this 

 reform, and in such a manner as to exercise a full control over the sense 

 of color on all our railways. This reform was promptly matured, and 

 introduced in a not less rapid, sure, and systematic manner, which un- 

 doubtedly proves the advantages of the method, plan, and principles 

 which were followed. 



A knowledge of the method of investigation and of the principles 

 relating to it has been so far dissemiaated merely by oral exposition and 

 application before the physicians and railway employes in the Amphi- 

 theatre of Physiology of Upsal, during the latter part of the year 1876. 

 Consequently, what is remarkable with regard to the subject is that the 

 entire reform was established in Sweden before any rules or principles 

 were printed. One of the most important causes of this fact is found 

 iu the conviction felt from the first of the advantages of speech over 

 writing in such matters. The other reason is that our results were ob- 

 tained with unexpected rapidity, and that the time devoted to it pre- 



* This article has been necessarily somewhat abridged from the French trauslation : 

 De la C6cit6 des Couleurs, dans ses rapports avec lea Cbemins-de-fer et la Marine, par 

 F. Holmgren. Traduit du sunders avec I'autorisatiou de I'auteur. Stocliholm. 8 vo. 

 pp. 144. [1877.] 



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