22 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



outgrowth of the meeting was the establishment of an International 

 Association for the archseologic exploration of India. The next con- ■ 

 ^ess will be held in December, 1902, in Hamburg, German}^, while 

 Athens has been proposed as the place of meeting for the Fourteenth 

 Congress. 



STAXDARDS OF COLOR. 



Mr. Robert Ridgway, curator of ornitholog}^ in the National 

 Museum, published a number of years ago, for the use of naturalists, 

 a hand])ook on color, and he requested a grant from the Institution 

 for a new edition. It appeared to the Secretary that a work upon a 

 more extended scale and a somewhat different plan would l^e of value 

 primarily to naturalists, but also in ever}' department of science, to 

 artists, and in many liranches of industr}'. 



At the present time there is practically no uniformity in the common 

 use of color names, one name designating as a rule as man}- as half a 

 dozen different shades; nor is there any absolute method commonly 

 availalile by which a person in one place can describe to a person in 

 another the exact shade or tint meant b}' a given name. The produc- 

 tion of a work which would obviate these difficulties and make availa- 

 ble what might be called the "constants of nature" in color, is 

 directl}' in line with previous publications of the Institution in 

 endeavoring to establish standards whereby a definite nomenclature in 

 scientific and popular writing might be introduced. 



The conception is that of a comprehensive and important work, and 

 this has l)een under consideration for some time, for it has been felt 

 that it could not be undertaken by the Institution unless it was to be 

 done in a worthy manner. One of the difiiculties in such books as 

 they have hitherto been published, is that they are absolutely depend- 

 ent upon color illustrations which fade with time, so that the original 

 tints, which should be the standards of comparison, can not be 

 recovered. 



The Secretary, after consulting with others expert in the matter, 

 decided that it would be desiral>le not onlj" to secure more })ermanent 

 tints, but to connect every tint published in the book with some defin- ■ 

 ite wave length in the spectrum, whether the sohir spectrum or a com- 

 posite one. The investigations of Professor Rood and others show 

 that it is difficult to do this directl}', but that it can be effected by the 

 use of intermediate means of comparison. 



Again, experiments must be made to determine how far this large 

 object (of connecting every tint employed with some definite wave 

 length or combination of wave lengths of light) is practicable. If it be 

 full}' so, the work may be said to be in one sense something absolutely 

 permanent, relating as it will to standards which can never alter with 

 time, so that, as has been said, those who expect that their writings 



