The Evolution of Optics. 291 



been mixtures of these, or [unimportant exceptions that have left 

 only a small and inconsiderable organic response in the psychic mech- 

 anism. 



" Nature has acted upon the organism in these continuous ways, 

 and the cerebral product is the spectral colors, in the proportions and 

 with the characteristics we find appearing in consciousness. The 

 largest and most persistent stimulus has been that of the gold rays 

 the varied shades of the diffused light of day, or the ever-present mys- 

 tery of fire. Those have been poured in profusion into all eyes, com- 

 prising nearly one half of their total stimulus, while the green rays 

 make up a fourth, the red less than a fourth, and the blue a still more 

 limited amount. 



" Gladstone, as a Homer student, and on simple philological evi- 

 dence, tried to show that ' they who fought at Troy ' were as blind to 

 certain colors as Homer himself (supposably) was to all. Dr. Magnus, 

 in Germany, drew the same conclusion from a wider sweeping of 

 word-lore. The whole affair was a dismal collapse, and Allen pricks 

 the bubble with justifiable satisfaction. It was hardly to be expected 

 that if ants, bees, and birds had such highly developed chromatic 

 powers, even savage men should be so far behind them. Present-day 

 barbarians have essentially the same power in this respect as ourselves, 

 though extreme delicacy of perception is, to be sure, not so highly de- 

 veloped, and their nomenclature would of course be very faulty or de- 

 ficient, as Gladstone and Magnus might have supposed. The savage's 

 delight in color, as shown in tattooing and decorating his body, pre- 

 supposes the ability to feel the differences in color quite as accurately 

 as the birds whose bright plumage he adorns himself with, and who 

 have no' words for colors either. The development of color perception 

 lies far back of all this, and is as old as hunger, in satisfying which, 

 and by the attacks and escapes of enemies, it quite certainly took its 

 rise. The sobering remark of "Wallace is also a propos, that it is the 

 absence of color that would require accounting for ; he says that the 

 most conspicuous pigeons, whether by their color or by their crests, 

 are all found where they have fewest enemies." 



Allow me a few words upon the future of the organ of vision, or 

 upon what might be called The Eye and Civilization. Dr. Alleman 

 has used words implying that myopia is Nature's attempt and failure 

 to adapt the eye to the demands of civilization. I do not agree with 

 this view. The oculists' patients are always asking why so many more 

 people have now to wear spectacles than was formerly the case. This, 

 in substance, is the answer I have given perhaps a thousand times : 

 Life created the eye for the work the eye had to do that is, seeing 

 more or less distant objects. All animals, all savage and uncivilized 



