TERMS USED TO DENOTE COLOUR. 29 



we are liable to become inaccurate when describing a 

 colour, though on the other hand it may be doubted 

 whether, if the human eye were so constructed as to see 

 only one of the colours of the spectrum, we should, from 

 the absence of contrast, be able to appreciate that colour 

 correctly. 



To the fact that we almost always see colours in con- 

 trast must be ascribed the habit which men have of speak- 

 ing of <c beautiful colours " No one who has thought on 

 the subject need be told that a simple sensation cannot be 

 strictly speaking beautiful. It is only by combination, 

 contrast, and harmony of sensations that we arrive at 

 beauty. To talk of a beautiful sound, such as a single note 

 of a musical instrument, would be absurd ; it is only a 

 combination of sounds that can be called beautiful. The 

 terms " beautiful smell," " beautiful taste," would cause 

 the most ignorant to smile, though it may be contended 

 that a dish uniting various flavours, or a perfume composed 

 of well-assorted scents might be called beautiful. We 

 look at the spectrum thrown on a screen and say it is 

 beautiful ; but it is the effect of the various colours seen in 

 juxtaposition, and the exquisite shading and melting of 

 one into the other, that we admire. When we speak of 

 the beautiful colours of sunset, we forget that a fine sun- 

 set is in fact a grand chromatic display. We see the fiery 

 red of the fleecy clouds and the deep blue of the sky con- 

 trasted with the green of the foliage and the brown of the 

 tree-stems, followed by a flood of yellow light on a cool 

 grey ground in the heavens, while the gloom of night is 

 settling over the earth beneath ; and the eye is pleased and 

 satisfied. Were we to see the sun like a ball of red-hot iron 

 set through a coppery sky over a sea of blood washing a 

 coastline of red rocks overgrown with red seaweed, it is 

 certain we should not speak of the beautiful colours of 



