410 Testing for Colour-blindness. (July, 
colour-blindness of drivers and guards of railway trains, 
and of masters and pilots in charge of ships. It was at 
length fairly demonstrated that a certain percentage of 
persons employed on the railways, and in the Mercantile 
Marine Service, were, without being aware of it, unable to 
discriminate between the red and green signal colours in 
common use. Those who now offer themselves for employ- 
ment on railways are, and have been for some years, sub- 
jected to a compulsory examination in colours, so that there 
no longer need be fear on this account. But as to the Mer- 
cantile Marine, the evidence adduced before the Royal 
Commission on Shipping, now sitting, shows that the loss 
of life and property at sea has in no way diminished, has in 
truth materially increased, during the last ten years, out of 
all proportion to the increase of shipping, and it is alleged 
that a number of the collisions that annually occur is due to 
the colour-blindness of the navigating officer or the pilot in 
charge. 
The Board of Trade, eight years ago, came to the deci- 
sion — because of the serious consequences involved in the 
question of colour-blindness — that all masters and mates 
should undergo a test-examination in the following colours, 
viz., red, green, blue, yellow, black, and white, before pro- 
ceeding to an examination for a certificate of a higher grade. 
During the first two years, between May, 1877 and 1879, no 
less than 39 candidates failed to obtain certificates on account 
of their defective colour-sense. From this number twelve 
should be deducted, who were subsequently reported to have 
satisfied the examiners on a re-examination, leaving the aftual 
number of failures from colour-blindness at 26. 
After 1880 the result of failure to pass the colour-test 
was made equivalent to that of failure to pass the ordinary 
examination in navigation and seamanship, — that is, it pre- 
vented a considerable number of candidates from obtaining 
the certificates for which they applied. 
The value of the colour-test soon became manifest to 
those in authority, and thereupon the Board of Trade, in 
February, 1880, after bringing their views to the attention 
of the Local Marine Boards, and receiving the concurrence 
of the majority of those Boards, resolved to extend the 
colour-test examination to all about to serve in the Mercan- 
tile Marine, and make it compulsory upon masters and 
mates to submit to the test. Consequently since March, 
1880, all officers who for the first time applied for certificates 
of competency, in any grade, have been subjected to a 
colour-test examination, and if they failed in this they were 
