1844-54. RESEARCHES ON COLOUR-BLINDNESS. 333 



" with hearty thanks to Dr. Wilson, both for his own experi- 

 ments and researches in this obscure subject, and for having 

 embodied all that is known about it in a clear and concise 

 resume, which will serve as a standard of reference hereafter to 

 the scientific investigator." 



In September 1857, an ophthalmological congress was held at 

 Brussels, attended by men of eminence from all parts of the 

 world, and it was confided to Mr. White Cooper, of London, to 

 draw up a report on the present state of ophthalmic science in 

 England. So deeply impressed was he with Dr. Wilson's work, 

 that he expressed his opinion of its value in the following 

 terms : " Though I have abstained from making special refer- 

 ence to books, I cannot pass over the admirable and original 

 work on chromato-pseudopsis, or colour-blindness, by Dr. George 

 Wilson, of Edinburgh. For acuteness and originality this volume 

 deserves the highest praise." The opinion thus expressed was 

 indorsed by all present who had studied the subject. Mr. White 

 Cooper has kindly given in detail his estimate of this work as 

 follows: "In 1853, the attention of Dr. George Wilson was 

 directed to the obscure but interesting subject of colour-blind- 

 ness ; he did not originally intend to do more than write two or 

 three papers upon it, but as examples of colour-blindness mul- 

 tiplied on his hands, and (as he states) the theoretical and prac- 

 tical importance of many of the questions connected with its 

 occurrence became more apparent, he was led to study it more 

 deeply, and to write upon it at greater length. 



" A prominent feature in Dr. Wilson's character appears to 

 have been a desire to utilise any subject, to remove it from the 

 realms of speculation, and to turn it when possible to practical 

 account. Thus, as to colour-blindness, until he took up the 

 subject, it had been regarded merely as a curious physiological 

 fact, the phenomena and their explanation having mainly at- 

 tracted the attention of philosophers. But Dr. Wilson regarded 

 it from another point of view ; he saw its practical relation to 

 railway and ship signals, and the important results which might 

 flow from the inability to distinguish one colour from another. 



"His first communication appeared in the 'Edinburgh 

 Monthly Journal of Medical Science' for November 1853, with 



