CHAPTER XIV. 



CLASSIFICATION OF CARNATIONS BASED ON COLORS -RATIO 

 OF CARNATION COLORS -EUROPEAN NOMENCLATURE- 

 COLORS A CHEMICO-VITAL PROCESS SENTIMENT 

 OF COLORS. 



AvSIDE from the prismatic colors, violet, indigo, blue, green, 

 orange, yellow and red, and a few common well under- 

 stood shades, all is chaos in the science of chromatics. 

 The method of conveying information of a color to a second per- 

 son is to compare it with the color of some object w^th which he 

 is supposed to be familiar. There are seventy-five different sub- 

 stances enumerated to illustrate as many shades of yellow, as 

 orange, saffron, chrome, lemon, etc. Carnation means flesh colored. 

 The color of the flower when it was thus christened w^as doubt- 

 less pink and suggested the name; the compass of the term ranges 

 in Caucasian flesh from a pallid white to deep crimson. The term 

 by usage has become generic, and implies flower, plant and species. 



The seven primary colors are resolvable into yellow, red and 

 blue. All other shades arise from the interminal ratio of admixing 

 these colors. Black is the negation of all color, and white a com- 

 pound of all the primary colors. 



Twenty-six letters form more than two hundred and fifty 

 thousand words; seven primary perfumes all the fragrances of earth; 

 red, yellow and blue are the basic pigments of the planet, the color 

 mordants of the world; with these Nature decorates the hills and 

 dales of earth, springs a seven-hued arch across the sky, halos 

 dawns with the tints of morning, and sunsets with the dj^es of ap- 

 proaching night. 



The classification of carnations founded on the color of their 

 flowers was given to the public by the author in the first edition 

 of American Carnation Culture, and has been accepted by 



