COLORIFIATION IN GENERAL. 333 



proper glasses, and of reflecting them in their 

 colored state on other bodies, appears to prove, 

 in a decided manner, that a union has taken 

 place between the rays of light, and the bodies 

 on which they have impinged. It is with a 

 view of preventing this union between them and 

 the furniture of our apartments, that their in- 

 troduction is prevented by blinds and shutters; 

 and I need not add, that the loss of color, by 

 exposure to the solar rays, in ribbands which la- 

 dies employ to ornament their dress, is to them 

 a constant source of lamentation. It is with a 

 view of preventing the deleterious influence of 

 light on colored bodies, that various substances 

 are combined, by painters and dyers, with their 

 coloring matter, in order to fix the colors, and 

 to prevent them from flying off. That the loss* 

 of color, which we behold different bodies un- 

 dergo by exposure to the solar rays, proceeds 

 from their influence, independently of the heat 

 which subsists in them, is most obvious ; 

 little or no change of color takes place, although 

 those bodies are exposed to a temperature 

 much higher in degree. If colors are not imme- 

 diately derived from the solar rays, it may rea- 

 sonably be asked, to what sources are they to 

 be referred? I would answer ; to the infinite 

 multitude of bodies which exist, not only living 

 and dead, but common also ; these may be con- 

 sidered as the radicals or base, by the union of 



