52 GOETHE'S * FARBENLEHRE.' 



In connection with his subject, Goethe charged 

 himself with all kinds of kindred knowledge. He refers 

 to ocular spectra, quoting Boyle, Buffon, and Darwin ; 

 to the paralysis of the eye by light ; to its extreme 

 sensitiveness when it awakes in the morning ; to irradia- 

 tion — quoting Tycho Brahe on the comparative apparent 

 size of the dark and the illuminated moon. He dwells 

 upon the persistence of impressions upon the retina, 

 and quotes various instances of abnormal duration. He 

 possessed a full and exact knowledge of the phenomena 

 of subjective colours, and described various modes of 

 producing them. He copiously illustrates the produc- 

 tion by red of subjective green, and by green of subjec- 

 tive red. Blue produces subjective yellow, and yellow 

 subjective blue. He experimented upon shadows, 

 coloured in contrast to surrounding light. The con- 

 trasting subjective colours he calls 'geforderte Far- 

 ben,' colours ' demanded ' by the eye. Goethe gives 

 the following striking illustration of these subjective 

 effects. i I once,' he said, 'entered an inn towards 

 evening, when a well-built maiden, with dazzlingly 

 white face, black hair, and scarlet bodice and skirt came 

 towards me. I looked at her sharply in the twilight, 

 and when she moved away, saw upon the white wall 

 opposite, a black face with a bright halo round it, while 

 the clothing of the perfectly distinct figure appeared 

 of a beautiful sea-green.' With the instinct of the 

 poet, Goethe discerned in these antitheses an image of 

 the general method of nature. Every action, he says, 

 implies an opposite. Inhalation precedes expiration, 

 and each systole has its corresponding diastole. Such 

 is the eternal formula of life. Under the figure of 

 systole and diastole the rhythm of nature is represented 

 in other portions of his work. 



Goethe handled the prism with great skill, and his 



