112 Application of the Microscope to the Art of Design. 



repose, we could not do better than refer to the armour in 

 which the diamond beetle is arrayed. When Mr. Owen Jones 

 completed his "Alhambra Court/'' at the Crystal Palace, every 

 one was struck by the mingled softness and gorgeousness 

 of the aspect. The eye could look steadily without being- 

 wearied, while a visit to the House of Lords, when its colours 

 were new and fresh, afflicted observers with an unpleasant 

 sense of tension, rapidly followed by weariness, from which 

 there was no escape. Even in the cases of persons afflicted 

 with colour blindness, we sometimes find that what may be 

 called colour discords are productive of disagreeable impres- 

 sions, while colour harmonies, although only partially perceived, 

 call forth pleasurable emotions.* Still more striking are the 

 effects of colour harmonies and discords upon individuals whose 

 physical and mental organs are in a sound and cultivated state. 

 They are not satisfied with the mere avoidance of mistakes, or 

 with the presentation of the most elementary concords which 

 pigments can produce. Their tastes lead them to desire to 

 untwist all the chains of colour harmony ; they love the com- 

 plicated effects of tertiary combinations, and are discontented 

 with brilliance if it be destitute of repose. 



What constitutes repose in colour is a difficult question, but 

 it is probably connected with the physical action of different 

 kinds of light on the optic nerve. Red, blue, and yellow, in 

 the proportions which theoretically produce white light, are 

 agreeable ; but not exclusively so, and nearly all the modifications 

 of prismatic colour obtained by means of crystals and the polari- 

 scope are satisfactory in a greater or less degree to the eye. It 

 naturally follows that the more vivid the light emanating from 

 coloured bodies, the more strikingly the defects of harmony are 

 disclosed, and although there are many cases in which brightness 

 and intensity become sources of a high degree of pleasure, they 

 are not unfrequently productive of sensations akin to pain. In 

 the scales which adorn the diamond beetle, the lustre, under 

 good illumination, is nearly equal to that of the most brilliant 

 gems, and yet the eye can rest upon it without fatigue. An at- 

 tentive observation will show how this depends upon the juxta- 

 position of cool and warm tints, the gorgeous yellows and 

 orange chromes being relieved by a due proportion of blues 

 and greens. Diamond beetle colours are not wanted in large 

 masses, but the first manufacturer who composes them into a 

 border, whether it be for porcelain or a textile fabric, with a 

 warm chocolate ground, can scarcely fail to be rewarded for his 

 pains. 



* This is not an imaginary case ; the writer knows a gentleman to whom no 

 colour appears as it does to other people, and who is apparently insensible to pure 

 red rays, but who is much annoyed by many colour discords, and able to arrange 

 a nosegay so as to produce an agreeable ell'ect. 



