10 
A NOMENCLATURE OF COLORS. 
in Edinburgh in 182 1, 1 a copy of which the writer has 
been able to procure through the kind attentions of a 
correspondent in England. In the selection of plates 
which accompany the present work, and in forming the 
definitions to which they refer, the book just cited has 
been carefully consulted, as have also various others bear- 
ing to a greater or less degree upon the same subject. 
It is found, however, that in Syme's " Nomenclature " the 
colors have become so modified by time, that in very few 
cases do they correspond with the tints they were intended 
to represent. On this account it has not been possible, 
except in a very few instances, to make the examples 
given in the present volume agree with those of the book 
in question, — which is much to be regretted, since as 
great uniformity as possible is highly desirable in so im- 
portant a matter. It has occurred to the writer, however, 
that by careful selection from the fine artists' colors 
manufactured by the most celebrated makers of the present 
day (which are believed to be very far superior in purity, 
as well as much more varied, than those made in Werner's 
time), some of these may be made the standard by which 
to fix definitely names for certain tints which otherwise 
must remain more or less arbitrary. A basis for a fixed 
nomenclature of colors may thus be obtained, — with this 
additional advantage, that artists may thereby be furnished 
a clew to the manufactured colors which are required for 
1 "Werner's | Nomenclature of Colors, | with additions | arranged so as 
to render it highly useful to the | Arts and Sciences, | particularly | 
Zoology, Botany, Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Morbid Anatomy. | Annexed 
to which are | examples selected from well-known objects | in the | 
Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral Kingdoms. [ = | By Patrick Syme, | 
Flower-Painter, Edinburgh ; | Painter to the Wernerian and Caledonian | 
Horticultural Societies. | Second Edition. | = Edinburgh : | Printed for 
William Blackwood, Edinburgh ; | and T. Cadell, | Strand, London. | — | 
1821. | Small 8vo., pp. 47, 13 pis. 
