32 DR. EDWARD SCHUNCK ON THE 



same object first red, then purple, and yet Goethe was not 

 colour-blind ; he wrote, as every one knows, a work on the 

 theory of colours. 



4. Part of the vagueness and uncertainty attending the 

 terminology of colour may be ascribed to a tendency we 

 are all more or less liable to — that of describing colours in 

 figurative and metaphoric terms. The habit, no doubt, 

 arises from the pleasure we feel in comparing two objects, 

 both of which are agreeable to the sense of sight. We 

 speak of a girl having sky-blue eyes and cherry-red lips, 

 whereas slate- coloured and brick-red would be more cor- 

 rect. How often we hear the expression, " he turned as 

 white as a sheet/' whereas the human skin is never under 

 any circumstances, even after death, as white as a sheet. 

 To say " he turned of a dirty yellowish white," would be 

 nearer the truth, though the expression might be thought 

 somewhat inelegant. Poets and others speak of golden 

 hair and silvery locks ; but human hair, though it may 

 be bright, glistening, and so on, never reflects light in the 

 manner peculiar to metals. Numerous examples of the 

 same kind will occur to every one. If, therefore, we meet 

 in ancient authors with expressions relating to colour which 

 seem exaggerated and out of place, we must make some 

 allowance for the tendency shown by men at all times to 

 compare one beautiful object with another beautiful object 

 or one terrific object with another terrific object, without 

 regard to exact literal truth. Generally speaking, I think 

 we may safely say that no terms denoting colour, where- 

 ever met with, are to be considered strictly correct and 

 appropriate unless they are referred to some fixed and 

 known standard. The errors due to actual blindness need 

 hardly, I think, be taken into consideration, since the 

 hues which the colour-blind are unable to distinguish lie 

 so far apart as to make it difficult for any one with 



