332 MEMOIR OF GEORGE WILSON. CHAP. VIII. 



vestigations on this subject. None of his inquiries attracted so 

 much attention as these, probably from their bearing so widely 

 on the welfare of the public. They are referred to with com- 

 mendation by Dr. W. C. Henry, in his 'Life of Dalton;' 1 by 

 Professor Clerk Maxwell, of Aberdeen; 2 by Professor Tyndall, 

 of the Royal Institution, London ; 3 by W. Pole, Esq., C.E. ; 4 and 

 by Dr. J. H. Gladstone. 5 Sir David Brewster, in a recent paper 

 on Colour- Blindness, speaks of the Researches as a " very in- 

 teresting volume." It is thus more fully referred to in an ela- 

 borate article, discussing its contents, in the ' North British 

 Review* for 1856 : "Although Dr. Wilson himself modestly re- 

 gards his work ' only as an imperfect contribution to the history 

 of a remarkable, and by no means rare peculiarity of vision, 

 requiring for its full elucidation a profounder acquaintance with 

 optics, anatomy, and physiology, than he dared pretend to,' yet 

 we have no hesitation in recommending it to readers of all 

 classes as a popular work of great value, exhibiting no defici- 

 ency of optical, anatomical, and physiological knowledge, ana- 

 lysing faithfully, and criticising candidly, the labours and views 

 of preceding writers, and calculated, as he himself trusts, ' to 

 create, or deepen the conviction that the study of colour-blind- 

 ness will throw light upon intricate departments of scientific 

 optics, anatomy, and physiology,' whilst it has ' already an im- 

 portant bearing on the aesthetic arts, which express beauty by 

 colours, and on those economic arts, such as mapping, but espe- 

 cially signalling, in which colours are graphically employed.' . . 

 Though Dr. Wilson has already taken a high place among the 

 distinguished men who adorn the colleges of our northern me- 

 tropolis, his work on colour-blindness will add greatly to his 

 reputation." 6 



Professor Cherriman 7 also reviews this work at great length 

 in the 'Canadian Journal' for March 1856, and concludes 



1 See Appendix to ' Life of Dalton,' by Henry. 



2 ' Trans. R. S. E.,' vol. xxi. p. 284. 



s ' London and Edinr. Phil. Mag.' vol. xi. p. 329. 

 'Trans. R. S. for 1859,' p. 323. 

 s ' Report of Brit. Assoc. for I860.' 



6 ' North British Review,' February 1856, pp. 327, 328. 



7 Professor of Natural Philosophy, University College, Toronto. 



