0)1 the Color-Vocabiilary of Childi'cn. 25 



impulse in the child to do the best he can {i.e. to guess when 

 he does not know), whether natural or cultivated, is worth 

 investigating, both as to its causes and effects. I suspect 

 our schools favor its development, and should like to know 

 how and why they do so. 



The results in violet very greatly resemble those in orange. 

 Few correct answers were expected. The names of the adja- 

 cent colors, blue and purple, are most frequently employed 

 to designate it. The boys prefer blue, and the girls purple. 

 This is easily explained by the fact that the iiner discrimina- 

 tion of the girls distinguishes violet from the more common 

 blue. The boys seize upon the resemblance without atten- 

 tion to the difference. Again, boys very seldom use the word 

 purple, and girls are, perhaps, accustomed to associate this 

 term with a tint more nearly resembling violet than the real 

 purple. Both these causes are doubtless active, and that they 

 tend in the direction indicated may be seen by observing 

 that the older and hence more discriminating the girls are, 

 the greater the proportion of purples to blues. There were 

 also many irrelevant terms applied to violet ; e.g. pink, green, 

 yellow, scarlet, black, and white. Fewer children gave no 

 name to violet than to orange. 



The number of correct answers in pink is larger than one 

 might look for. The distribution of the incorrect replies is 

 also unexpected. Among the younger children {boys espe- 

 cially) we should have anticipated as many reds as pinks. 

 Instead of this being the case, there are comparatively few 

 reds. Indeed, they are almost equalled by the sum of the 

 yellows and purples. The superiority of the girls is, perhaps, 

 more clearly seen in pink than in any other color. This is 

 also the best general test for color-blindness. Among the 

 other terms applied to pink are cream (five times), drab 

 (seven times), green (seven times), besides orange, white, 

 brown, gray, and blue several times each. 



The remaining colors were not given to the pupils of the 

 lower grades. It would be interesting to know in what way 

 young children would designate gray, brown, and lilac. 



229 



