62 Experiments on Coloured Shadows. 



these colours was in all cases not only very striking, 

 but the appearances altogether were quite enchanting ; 

 and I never found anybody to whom I showed these 

 experiments whose eyes were not fascinated with them. 

 It is, however, more than probable that a great part of 

 the pleasure which these experiments afforded to the 

 spectators arose from the continual changes of colour, 

 tint, and shade with which the eye was amused and 

 the attention kept awake. 



We are used to seeing colours fixed and unalterable, 

 — hard as the solid bodies from which they come, 

 and just as motionless, — consequently dead^ uninter- 

 esting^ and tiresome to the eye; but in these experi- 

 ments all is motion, life, and beauty. 



It appears to me very probable that a further prose- 

 cution of these experiments upon coloured shadows 

 may not only lead to a knowledge of the real nature of 

 the harmony of colours, or the peculiar circumstances 

 upon which that harmony depends, but that it may 

 also enable us to construct instruments for producing 

 that harmony for the entertainment of the eyes, in a 

 manner similar to that in which the ears are enter- 

 tained by musical sounds. I know that attempts have 

 already been made for that purpose ; but, when I con- 

 sider the means employed, I am not surprised that they 

 did not succeed. Where the flowing tide, the vary- 

 ing swell, the crescendo is wanting, colours must ever 

 remain hard, cold, and inanimate masses. 



I am very sorry that my more serious occupations 

 do not at present permit me to pursue these most 

 entertaining inquiries. Perhaps at some future period 

 I may find leisure to resume them. 



[This paper is printed from Rumford's Philosophical Papers, Vol. I., 

 PP- 318-332-] 



