POPULAR SCIENTIFIC LECTURES. 



bnt little to do Tviih man's sense of art; It 

 only appears nn the nat\;ral pleasure of the 

 perceptive organism in the varying and mul- 

 tifarious excitation of its various nerves, 

 which is necessary for its healthy continu- 

 ance and productivity. But the thorough 

 fitness in the construction of living organ- 

 isms, whatever their origin, excludes the pos- 

 sibility that in the majority of healthy indi- 

 viduals an instinct should be developed or 

 maintain itself which did not nerve some 

 definite purpose. 



We have not far to seek for the delight in 

 light and in colors, and for the dread of dark- 

 ness ; this coincides with the endeavor to 

 Kee and to recognize surrounding objects. 

 Darkness owes the greater part of the terror 

 v,-hich it inspires to the fright of -what is un- 

 known and cannot be recognized. A colored 

 picture gives a far more accurate, richer, and 

 easier conception than a similarly executed 

 drawing, which only retains the contrasts of 

 light and shade. A picture retains the lat- 

 ter, but has in addition the material for dis- 

 crimination which colors afford ; by which 

 surfaces which appear equally bright in the 

 drawing, owing to their different color, are 

 now assigned to various objects, or again as 

 alike in color are seen to be parts of the 

 amc, or of similar objects. In utilizing the 

 relations thus naturally given, the artist, by 

 means of prominent colors, can direct and 

 enchain the attention of the observer upon 

 the chief objects of the picture ; and by the 

 variety of the garments he can discriminate 

 the figures from each other, but complete 

 each individual one in itself. Even the nat- 

 ural pleasure in pure, strongly saturated 

 colors finds its justification in this direction. 

 The case is analogous to that in music, with 

 the full, pure, well-sounding tones of a beau- 

 tiful voice. Such a one is more expressive ; 

 that is, even the smallest change of its pitch, 

 or its quality- -any slight interruption, any 

 tremulousness, any rising or falling in it is 

 at once more distinctly recognized by the 

 hearer than could be the case with a less reg- 

 ular sound ; and it seems also that the pow- 

 erful excitation which it produces in the ear 

 of the listener arouses trains of ideas and 

 passions more strongly than does a feebler 

 excitation of the same kind. A pure, fun- 

 damental color bears to small admixtures the 

 same relation as a dark ground on which the 

 slightest shade of light is visible. Any of 

 the ladies present will have known how sen- 

 sitive clothes of uniform saturated shades 

 are to dirt, in comparison with gray or gray- 

 ish-brown materials. This also corresponds 

 to the conclusions from Young's theory of 

 colors. According to this theory, the percep- 

 tion of each of the three fundamental colors 

 rises from the excitation of only one kind of 

 sensitive fibres, while the two others are at 

 rest, or at any rate are but feebly excited. 

 A brilliant, pure color produces a powerful 

 stimulus, and yet, at the same time, a great 

 degree of sensitiveness to the admixture of 

 other colors, in those systems of nerve-fibres 



which are at rest. The modelling of a e< 

 ored surface mainly depends upon the reflc 

 tion of light of other colors which falls up< 

 them from without. It is more particular 

 when the material glistens that the refle 

 tions of the bright places are preferably 

 the color of the incident light. In the dep 

 of the folds, on the contrary, the colon 

 surface reflects against itself, and therel 

 makes its own color more saturated. A whi 

 surface, on the contrary, of great brightnes 

 produces a dazzling effect, and is thereby ij 

 sensitive to slight degrees of shade. Stror 

 colors thiis, by the powerful irritation whic 

 they produce, can enchain the eye of the ol 

 server, and yet be expressive for theslighte 

 change of modelling or of illumination ; th 

 is, they are expressive in the artistic sense 



II, on the other hand, wo coat too larp 

 surfaces, they produce fatigue for the pron 

 nent color, and a diminution in sensitivene 

 toward it. This color then becomes mo 

 gray, and on all surfaces of a different col 

 the complementary tint appears, especial 

 on gray or black surfaces. Hence thcrefo 

 clothes, and more particularly curtain 

 which are of too bright a single color, pr 

 duce an unsatisfactory and fatiguing effee 

 the clothes have moreover the disadvantaf 

 for the wearer that they cover face and ban 

 with the complementary color. Blue pr 

 duces yellow, violet gives greenish yellow 

 bright purple gives green, scarlet gives blu 

 and, conversely, yellow gives blue, el 

 There is another circumstance which t 

 artist has to consider, that color is for him a 

 important means of attracting the attentic 

 of the observer. To bo able to do this 

 must be sparing in *ho use of the pure colon 

 otherwise they distract the attention, and t 

 picture becomes glaring. It is necessary, o 

 the other hand, to avoid a one-sided fatig 

 of the eye by too prominent a color. This 

 effected either by introducing the promine 

 color to a moderate extent upon a du 

 slightly colored ground, or by the juxtap 

 sition of variously saturated colors, whi 

 produce a certain equilibrium of irritation 

 the eye, and, by the contrast in their af te 

 images, strengthen and increase each otlu 

 A green surface on which the green afte 

 imago of a purple one falls, appears to be 

 far purer green than without such an afte 

 image. By fatigue toward purple, that 

 toward red and violet, any admixture of the 

 two colors in the green is enfeebled, wh 

 this itself produces its full effect. In th 

 way the sensation of green is purified fro 

 any foreign admixture. Even the purest an 

 most saturated green, which nature shows 

 the prismatic spectrum, mav thus acquire 

 high degree of saturation. We find thus th 

 the other pairs of complementary color 

 which we have mentioned, rnako each oth 

 more brilliant by their contrast, while colo 

 which are very similar are detrimental to ea 

 other, and acquire a gray tint. 



These relations of the colors to each oth 

 have manifestly a great influence on the c 

 of joleasure which different combinatio 



