CORRESPONDINQ SOCIETIES. 791 



is intended by any colour-term used in a description ; (2) the difficulty which 

 any worker himself has of satisfactorily naming the colours in a species under 

 discussion. 



It is obvious that these difficulties have not come forward suddenly during 

 the present century, and in the few days at my disposal I have attempted to 

 trace out various previous attempts to get over them. In this way it would 

 appear that the requisites of a standard could best be appreciated. 



The earliest effort to define colours from the naturalist's standpoint to which 

 I have found a reference is in an Appendix to Charleton's ' De Nominibus 

 Animalium,' 1677. This author realises the almost infinite varieties of colours, 

 and the difficulty of translating classical names into English idiom. He divides 

 the colours up into groups : white, black, yellow, blue, etc. He gives Latin 

 names for the colours, e.g., Psittaceus is described as ' Poppin-jay-green, such 

 as the green of parrots, which in old English were call'd Pope-jayes, quasi 

 Priests-jayes.' This method of describing colour by referring it to some natural 

 object has always been common with men of science, and has much to commend 

 it. When one gets away from common objects, however, in the definition of 

 colour, obvious objections arise. The more perfect the scheme in any branch of 

 science the more difficult it is of general application. 



The alternative method is to have samples of colour for comparison. It is 

 to such scales we must look if we are to have a satisfactory scheme of denoting 

 colours. Such colour charts have been brought forward at different times. The 

 first colour chart of this description appears to have been published in Hayne's 

 ' Termini Botanici Iconibus Illustrati,' 1807. There are thirty-six samples of 

 colour which have Latin names appended. In the text the terms are explained, 

 with examples where possible, and the German equivalent given. Next, Werner's 

 ' Nomenclature of Colours,' as introduced by Patrick Syme, was published in 

 1814; a second edition of this work was published seven years later. The 

 first edition has 108 tints ; the second 110. The introduction gives the 

 method by which each colour was prepared. The samples are very 

 small (half-inch square), and pasted ten on a page. The name of the 

 colour is given, and examples of the colour where possible from the animal, 

 vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. Thus : Wine yellow ; body of sUk moth ; 

 .stamina of honeysuckle ; pale Brazilian topaz. Most of the colours have by 

 this time considerably altered, and, on comparing the two editions, it is seen 

 that many of the colours, with the same names, are quite different. This scheme 

 met with some success, and was used in Barton's ' Flora of North America,' 1831. 



In 1815 Mirbel, in his ' Elemens de Botanique,' gave a chart of eighty-three 

 tints, the only explanation given being a naive statement that by its aid any 

 colour whatever can be matched ; a statement which appears particularly ridicu- 

 lous now that all the whites have turned black. 



Another scheme which may be mentioned is that of Hayto'r, which is 

 appended to Sinclair's ' Hortus Ericaeus Woburnensis,' 1825, one of the well- 

 known Woburn monographs. An account of the origin of the scheme is given 

 in a letter by Haytor to the Duke of Bedford. Sinclair had 'lamented much 

 that no work existed to render clear and definite all communications on the 

 subject of any new or rare bloom. ... In attempting at present to describe 

 the colour of any given flower, the term red, he remarked, was applied to so 

 many blossoms that it was impossible to define precisely what was meant by it : 

 and, to give me an evidence of the want he complained of, he took me to several 

 flowers, generally called red, but varying so much that, to my eye as a painter, 

 they each demanded a diffei-ent appellation for their colour.' He adds that 

 matters are made worse by adding the termination -ish, and arriving at such 

 indefinite but common terms a* 'reddish ' and 'greenish.' A comparison of the 

 colour descriptions of the same varieties in present-day florists' catalogues show? 

 clearly that matters are quite as bad as they were a hundred years ago ; and 

 the entomologist's testaceus and the mycologist's ferrugineus show that Latin 

 terms are used with just as much levity. In Haytor's scheme 272 tints are 

 arranged in a circle in the form of a mariner's compass, and the nomenclature 

 is also nautical, e.g., red, red by purple. Two gradations are appended, one 

 showing the range from black to white, the other from brown to white. The 

 scheme does not appear to have been at all successful. 



