with regard to Colours. 207 



repair, the mother of the lad was surprised to find the elbow 

 of the coat repaired with crimson *. 



Syme's purples he regarded in general as blues ; the only one 

 to which he could perfectly adapt his notion of that colour 

 being the imperial purple (39), of a specimen of fluor-spar. 

 To the pale blackish purple, the colour of the porcelain jasper, 

 he would only give the name of dark colour. A blue lilac he 

 called a lead colour ; nor could he trace a shade of purple in 

 the sweet-scented violet, or in a plum. From all the informa- 

 tion I could obtain, he regarded purple as a slight modified 

 tion of blue. 



Greens were to him a source of much embarrassment. On 

 a particular occasion, I requested him to bring me eight or 

 ten specimens of cloth, of different shades of that colour. This 

 I found from his master, was the occasion of much uneasiness 

 to him ; and he at last was compelled to ask one of his fellow- 

 workmen to point out the green bundle to him, although they 

 had been charged not to assist him in his difficulty. His 

 master having discovered this circumstance, substituted some 

 pieces of black and brown for some of the greens ; and he, 

 unaware of the change, furnished the following as varieties of 

 green. 



Four specimens of dark bottle-green : 



One reddish-black (21)} 



One raven-black (22)^ q. 



One liver-brown (104)( ? 



One ...... blackish-brown (108)) 



When Syme's specimen of verdigris-green was placed be- 

 fore him, he declined giving any name to it, but remarked that 

 it was certainly not green. The beautiful green of the emerald 

 (52), he called pale orange ; and to grass-green he applied the 

 same remark as to verdigris. Duck-green, which .forms so 

 interesting a feature in the neck of the mallard, he named 

 brown or green, displaying much uncertainty; and the same 

 ambiguity was manifested when olive-green was shown him. 

 On another occasion, being requested to point out two colours 

 in the page that resemble each other, he immediately fixed ori 

 the two last-mentioned, and again called them brown. 



All his ideas of green appeared to be extremely confused. 

 On being told that Syme's specimens were varieties of- that 

 colour, and requested to point out one that bore a resemblance 

 to the green fields, he expressed his surprise at the remark, 



* In one of Dr. Nicholls' cases, published in the Medico-Chirurgical 

 Transactions, the following anomalous circumstance is recorded. " Charles 

 was in the navy, and, several years ago, he purchased a blue uniform 

 coat and waistcoat, with red breeches to match the blue." 



and 



