332 WELLS'S NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 



its complementary color, or upon the ono which added to the first will pro- 

 duce white light. The complementary color of red is bluish green ; of 

 orange is blue ; of yellow is indigo ; of green is reddish viclet ; of blue is 

 orange red ; of indigo is orange yellow ; of violet is yeUow green ; of black ia 

 white ; of white is black. 



Complementary colors may be seen by fixing the eye steadily upon any 

 colored object, such as a wafer upon a sheet of white paper. A ring of col- 

 ored light will play round the wafer, and this ring will be complementary to 

 the color of the wafer. A red wafer will give a green ring, a blue wafer an 

 orange-colored ring, and so on. Or if, after having regarded the colored wafer 

 steadily for a few moments, the eye be closed, or turned away, it will retain 

 the impression of the wafer, not in its own, but in its complementary color ; 

 thus a red wafer will give a green ray, and so on. 



In Uke manner, if we look at a red hot fire for a few minutes, every object 

 as we turn away appears tinged with bluish green. 



The art of harmonizing and contrasting colors is intimately connected with 

 the principles of complementary colors. 



How do colors Every color placed beside another color is 

 ifapp^rani^r cbangcd, and appears differently from wliat it 

 does when seen alone ; it equally modifies, 

 moreover, the color with which it is in proximity. 



As a general rule, two colors will appear to the best 

 advantage when one is complementary to the other. 



Thus, if a dresa is composed of cloths of two colors, the one complementary 

 to the other, as red and green, orange and blue, yellow and violet, they will 

 mutually heighten the effect of each, and make each portion appear to the 

 best advantage. For this reason, a dress composed of cloths of different 

 colors, looks well for a much longer time, although worn, than one of a single 

 color, the character of the fabric being the same in both instances. 



A suit of clothes of one color can be worn to advantage only when it is 

 new, because as soon as one portion of the suit loses its freshness from hav- 

 ing been worn longer than another, the difference will increase by contrast. 

 Thus a pair of new black pantaloons worn with a vest of the same color, 

 which is old and rusty, will make the tinge of the latter appear more con- 

 Bpicuous, and at the same time the black of the pants will appear more 

 brilliant. White and other light-colored pantaloons would produce a contrary 

 effect. 



In printing letters on colored paper, the best effect will be produced when 

 the color of the paper is complementary to the ink ; blue should be put upon 

 orange, and red upon green. 



Stains will be less visible on a dress of different colors than on one com- 

 posed of only a single color, since there exists in general a greater contrast 

 among the various parts of the first-named dress, than between the stain and 

 the adjacent part, and this difference renders the stain less apparent to the eye. 



