HOMER'S RAINBOW.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 931, 26 September 1910, Page 8

HOMER'S RAINBOW.

HOW THINCS LOOK. A MYSTERY OF EVERY DAY.

(BY J.Q.X.)

"We are often 'reminded- that'/■ there ://-/ -ore amongst us optimists and'.' pessimists.' Sometimes by' way of varying tlio ■-.p'hraso iho critics mention that. So- /-//, <ntd-So' sees the world- through ' roseyr!,h: y coloured glasses,. or that / Such-aii-Ono look's upon lifo with a. drab eye: : Are ' • . these expressions' merely figures of ' speech, or do they stand for facts of ///nature / /'', / /..: ,-./.; , -■;./ / ; V ' , . Among the. complicated causes - that . . '-.. melancholy, a joyous or. desperate thing, ond 'of : the most ■ powerful may con- ••'••"• .- ceivably be an actual physical ;pigmentatioii within tho organs of sight. Do any of us really seo the cbmrcohost' objects as they are? . ■-.■■ •. N "'/ . . "All seems infected.-to th'. infected spy .' ,///;•-"■/': As -all ! loots yellow. to. the' jaundiCed eye."; •'• . / !And,'caii one of .us. bo • suro' that his ~. owu.oye is not,just a little ijauudiced, /'';/." or ;';roseate,' or- azured, or ' smoky . ; '• .veiled? I used to notice a few years / ■ '-i ago that one of my own eyes, as com-. •; ' jar^dWilli the other, gavo white paper. a .faintly, bluish, tint. Is anybody's-vis-, ■ - ion-colourless and crystal-clear? I -do '/, f, ; know whether ..science- has.;an-, siounoed. an - answer to these question s, 1 !y;'ii ' but I know that everyday.- happen.'l i/jngs;prompt .us ;to"ask vtliein./Much ; progress.jhasj : of/course,: been., made -.in jli'ijJ'j the:' detection of ■colour-blindness,', but - '. . / I suspect- that thore are infinite,, and •i perhaps .forever undiscoverable,' varia- . tions of colour-sight. .• '/; -.' //!.J;fc Thcrcis evidence that ages ago men '.;. '. thought tho rainbow : was all of one •; . .colour....llomer called: it purplo. A ; .M;-;-Marnold,^has : traced: id: '//'-fj/fthe-.references'-of succeeding writers to fc/: /?/ jihis "immutable phenomenon /■' of na-' 1 5 : -tare": : ;an :/''evolution of, : V tho colour-, fonse." Thus-; : Xenophon' described • : '•Vliat is called Iris, a purple cloud, led" and yellow-green.".'; Aristotle, ; two ;' /. hundred years Mater, saw tho rainbow ■// • : ;as red,..grpen,; and blue,- but observed: . ' • "Between .the. red and the. green, some- '. times yellow is discovered." After. .the' '/- :• lapse of • v ' : three , . more . • 'centuries, 'Ovid,... ••vriting _ / apparently as -poet ®rather than ,scientific observer,. .- pro- ... . fessedjto recogniso in . tho rainbow "a •• i' s'.'.jbhousand dazzling clours which ' • the :• . eye cannot distingiiisli separately." Un-, 7; >x./■ .ifortunately/I can only." quote M. . Maniold ;vi_v;i^t; second'-or third hand, ■ hut. ho •.ap-..-.•'years to. have'.'pointed out'that • "this \ evolution ' of.. t-ho . colour-senso - follows' ' • . closely tlie order of colours in the; solar $ iS• „ 6pcctrum',. commencing - with rod,. tho : . colour, engendered by tho smallest num- ■'.. bor. of ethereal ;vibratio!!S." His pnr- .;:: poso .is to show, ,a.- parallel' between co-1-i and Tnusic, !and; ho that Vas, ' 'ÜBseCii,' so : we may conclude. that coming'; generations : will hear ; and •combine ?: ' ov<srtones,-. t-ho. .-.sonorous', vibrations, of. -which aro .as , yet- unheard- by our- oon- ■=; -i-v'-vv/ ; But: wlnlo we -.welcom©' tho • idea ■ of. gain by evolution,, let us not bo. t<io #'JSI optimis'tic 'to, 1 ask whether.; there may . : V. ■,:.not' bfe also some 1 ; loss. ■ .Lafcadio Hearn, i itliought that' tho power.:to per'ceivo red . '—the cruelly suggestive .: colour, ..'.which: cnlthred>, vision mcreasihgly dislikes—might 'eventually ; .pass • . • away',v;, but.. that, there would. be', more V ' .■ thail'- ; tempaiisation'in' an increased-sen- ' .'ativeness: toiiner'huos. ,Tliqlossv is; V ; ' casieri to t in]?gineVthan the compensat- ...• • ing.ignin, yivjtliero .niay. he among us. -i ; Vk : 'aireSdy-some:people who -.exemplify, ; bothV; . . .The'poet .AVhitt-ier is said to have been ;: ; .v : r eliable vto . see-,' any between ■ ; .V. the 'colour of. a i'ipe,strawberry.and,tlifi T'Scaves among.which-it rested.- Yet ho , . >took l a l keon l ' delight -iny.. the • autumn •' tints of trees;. This has'the'.appearJM ic jance. of a. contradiction-,' yet perhaps in, SV'liittier', a .blindr.ess Ho red.i was bal- : - anced by. a specially'delicate, se<i:nß of K-ii;;' anauy-ri'vainatians.'.' ot' - -'bi;own 'and .yellow;-, ' John 'Dalton, ;t-ho great "chemist, .was ~\i>i ; : ijdso bliiid to red.■; He may * have had '.. . ' Bomo^countervailing'.superiority of vis- , . »n, .' but tlio'only - story . I remember :; v.-'' - about him -is -'of. quite', another . kind- -Hohought. himself'a scarlet coat, such as '•. huntsmen .wear, .under, the. impression ' \ ; that'.'it was of'-'thie" sober ' drab then. " considered ;propor -to his - religious pro-, [,■/:- ■'fession,; for 'he.. like. , Whittier,.: was ■ a .Quaker.'' t-lie .inespediof being mucli m advance, of 'one s ••/ >•• generalion. ■ • ' i ■:- ?.: A ■-Similar moral, - may perhaps :be ' drawn 1 from v, an experience of . Ypshio•: > llarkmo, the Japaneso artist, who lias ' lately been' painting pictures of London ■'/■■■■ o . Jand writing. delightfully..- in.: ; - : English periodicals. v ' Tlig . qßottitibn, i wiliciiy .- re- • fates to a book.of poems by;his. comoneNogiichi, is from tne ai^to^. ; tjographical ,: volume, ■' ( A J apaneso 4/. ?.,-iArtist;in Ijondon" : :—. . :' . "I mado a design for the hookcovei—many Japanese boats loaded wit-h parchment' sailing forward,'' and; each sail , had -Yonejs family., ft"'/ .' - . indigo :on' grduhdoYonej: liked it very; much. ; But. to. our. great' disappointment tho publish-. • -;printea,,it on cream to maker it; ; more'-'effec- ; j V:;tive.' I; said,. 'Effectivo? Indeed, it-iisreifectiye-'enough; to .make us .. sick. Commercial elaboration t means our Hell l ' " Mafkiho has not Vx.'- : -' leached tho ev6lutionary.rstage.of blindi oess to .red, and no. doubt his-own use colbvir: ;iri" contrast- and? coin--bixiatidii with : . ; others is ' worthyr .of; a ®TMev^f'/artists ;'fe6m; whom European -fi>- painters have leamt: much. ' ;" " < .differeniwi between the',' eyesight v.- of i one person and another is one of ..the ; .reaSphs';.why';'pictures are • made. ; '...A /distrust of/ one's, own ;%-.V:sf»nseß/is' ancient " and ■, deep-seated -'ii'-'.•■feeling: A person, likos to have 'some ji/^'Bssurahce/thatother I people .'see.ythings pretty "much. as/he does'. /■ Sovhe'- mikes a' representation' of what -ho has seen. .• It is an invitation .to -his follow,'! ;to l)/'/^v.say|. : ''It looks;like that to nie,- too." If / /'•'.' ' they say so' at onco he is a; popular . ' artist. ;• If they' only/say- it aft;r a ■'•penodi'of denial and ridicule, he may be ' a great artist, and the founder of a "movement.;. Holman; Hunt .painted more ./' .;'/ detail than. other artists', because he './. / -;saw more... He: could see the moons of Jupiter with the,naked eye. It. is suggested by an "appreciative critic, Mr. J. ; 'E. I'hyt-hian, that' Hunt's unusually :.//-:-. ; :/:jkeeri, eyesight accounted for much that f/./'if/'i -was distinctive" in his art and in. his }■:$ i.-/theories ofiart. Whilo ho painted;with j'£^A, y ' ; '''imcr6scopic.truth,, the Impressionists '■ were teaching people to seo atmosphere ''./' as it-had not been seen before. ';y ' - ■ ... - ' Nohody really knows what the world .'looks like to anybody else. Therefore ftMx'-m piiint pictures, write;books, compose V'-imißic,".'-. produce -newspapers;- tell each other-that the day' is- fine or .wet, and. . : ./. .'do many of the' things that make life ;an - affair of .such : imperfections and 6uch possibilities. ,