1885.] 
Homer Colour -blind. 
317 
examined as to their colour vocabulary, of the 1050 appli- 
cants between the ages of 18 and 30 examined, 98 were 
rejected because of their ignorance of colour : a number of 
these, however, on closer examination, were found to be 
fairly able to distinguish the difference between red and 
green, — the two most important signalling colours on rail- 
ways,— and only a small percentage were finally rejected. 
The average percentage of colour-blind, among all classes 
of men, is 3-5 per cent ; of women, only £ per cent. Among 
the seafaring class the percentage is also remarkably low. 
From a Parliamentary Report, issued in 1879, of the 
examinations of candidates for masters’ and mates’ certifi- 
cates in the Merchant Seamen’s Service, — and which, oddly 
enough, are made compulsory on all alike, except pilots,—- 
the percentage of colour-blind is given as 0-43 per cent 
(rather under a £ per cent). But it appears that, as failures 
were often reported from ignorance of the names of colours 
and other causes, those rejected were allowed to present 
themselves a second time, when a third of the whole number 
passed the colour tests. 
From a later return (1884), moved for by the Member for 
the University of Oxford, at my instigation, we derive other 
fadts regarding the Mercantile Marine. Of the 85 candidates 
examined, no less a number than 79 were unable to distin- 
guish a difference between green and red ; 38 mistook yellow 
for red ; 45 called blue, green ; 16 called yellow, green ; 
4 black, green ; 3 white, green ; while others called dark 
green, yellow,— and blue, red. But, remarkable enough, 
rather more than a third (29) of the whole number examined, 
on presenting themselves a second time, obtained certificates 
from the examiners at other seaport towns, one only suc- 
ceeding in London. 
Colour-blindness, like other defeats of vision, affedts 
people in different degrees of intensity, and, like myopia or 
short-sight, it is frequently hereditary. In several instances 
I have witnessed its transmission through three generations, 
and it often becomes more pronounced in after-life, or when 
the near point of vision begins to recede. 
It will be seen, then, that a statistical comparison of 
defedts of perception of colour is always of importance, and 
especially so when discussing the obscure question of a 
meagre Homeric colour vocabulary. We might with ad- 
vantage pursue the inquiry of a defedtive colour sense to the 
better educated classes, to men of culture, and who, it will 
be seen, more often suffer from the evils involved in a partial 
loss of the colour sense. Among the more highly educated 
