Part 2

The material from which to select suitable color names was greatly augmented, almost at the last moment, from two sources, as follows: (1) A very large collection of color-samples (unfortunately mostly unnamed) collected and mounted on cards by Mr. Frederick A. Wampole, a talented young artist, to whom was delegated, by a Committee of the American Mycological Society, the task of preparing a nomenclature of colors based upon spectroscopic determinations, but which, unfortunately, the untimely death of Mr. Wampole prevented from progressing beyond the accumulation of this collection. For the use of this material I am indebted to the courtesy of Dr. Frederick V. Coville, Botanist of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, and Mr. P. L. Ricker, Assistant Botanist, Bureau of Plant Industry, in the same Department. (2) A splendid collection of colored Japanese silks, taffetas, velvets, and other dress goods, kindly sent me by Mr. C. H. Hospital, of the silk department of the firm of Woodward and Lothrop, Washington, D. C. The very large number of colors represented in this collection are all named and have afforded a considerable number of the names adopted in the present work.

For obvious reasons it has, of course, been necessary to ignore many trade names, through which the popular nomenclature of colors has become involved in really chaotic confusion rendered more confounded by the continual coinage of new names, many of them synonymous and most of them vague and variable in their application. Most of them are invented, apparently without care or judgment, by the dyer or manufacturer of fabrics, and are as capricious in their meaning as in their origin; for example: Such fanciful names as "zulu," "serpent green," "baby blue," "new old rose," "London smoke," etc., and such nonsensical names as "ashes of roses" and "elephant's breath." An inspection of the sample books of manufacturers of fancy goods (such as embroidery silks and crewels, ribbons, velvets, and other dress- and upholstery-goods) is sufficient not only to illustrate the above observations, but to show also the absolute want of system or classification and the general unavailability of these trade names for adoption in a practical color nomenclature. This is very unfortunate, since many of these trade names have the merit of brevity and euphony and lack only the quality of stability.

It has been difficult for the author to decide whether the standards of his original "Nomenclature of Colors" (1886) should be retained in the present work. Some of them are admittedly wrong (indeed, certain ones are not as they were intended to be); besides, owing to the method of reproducing the originals (hand stenciling) there is considerable variation in different copies of the book, one or more reprints, necessitating new mixtures of pigments, adding to this lack of uniformity.[17] Many persons, however, have urged the retention of the old standards, on the ground that they have been used by so many zoologists and botanists in their writings during the last twenty-five years that they have become established through common usage. This very important consideration has induced the author to retain such of the old standards as can be matched in the present work, even though some of them do not agree strictly with either his own or the usual conception of the colors in question. An asterisk (*) preceding a color name indicates that the name in question is adopted from the older work, the variation between different copies of the work requiring the selection, in the new one, of a color representing as nearly as possible an average of the former.

In any systematically arranged scheme, unless the number of colors shown is practically unlimited, it will, necessarily, be impossible to find represented thereon a certain proportion of colors comprised among even a very limited number selected at random, or only roughly classified. Hence many (thirty-six, or more than five per cent.) of the colors shown in the old "Nomenclature of Colors" fall into the blank intervals of the present work, being intermediate either in hue or tone, or chroma, sometimes all. It is necessary of course to provide some means for the correlation of these with the present scheme, which is done by the list on page 41, where the position of each is shown.

The question of giving representations of metallic colors in this work was at one time considered; but the idea was abandoned for the reason that these are in reality only ordinary colors reflected from a metallic or burnished surface, or appearing as if so reflected; the actual hue is precisely the same, though often changeable according to angle of impact of the light rays, and relative position of the eye, this changeableness being sometimes due to interference.[18] Colors again vary, without actual difference of hue, in regard to quality of texture or surface; that is to say, the color may be quite lustreless, appearing on a dull, sometimes velvety surface, while again it may be more or less glossy, even to the degree of appearing as if varnished. To deal with these variations, however, requires simply the use of suitable adjectives. For example: To indicate a color which has no lustre or brightness, the adjective matt (or mat) may be used, in preference to _dull_, which implies reduction in purity or chroma; other adjectives, appropriate in special cases, being velvety, glossy, burnished metallic, matt-metallic, etc.

Color Terms.—No other person has presented so forcibly the urgent need for reform in popular nomenclature nor stated so clearly and concisely its shortcomings and the simple remedy, as Mr. Milton Bradley, from one of whose educational pamphlets on the subject[19] the following is quoted: "The list of words now employed to express qualities or degrees of color is very small, in fact a half dozen comprise the more common terms, and these are pressed into service on all occasions, and in such varied relations that they not only fail to express anything definite but constantly contradict themselves.... Tint, Hue and Shade are employed so loosely by the public generally, even by those people who claim to use English correctly, that neither word has a very definite meaning, although each is capable of being as accurately used as any other word in our every day vocabulary"....

Certainly one would expect that men of learning, at least, would employ the broader color terms correctly; but some of the highest authorities on color-physics habitually use them interchangeably, as if they were quite synonymous; and even the dictionaries, with few exceptions, give incorrect or "hazy" definitions of these terms. It is not strictly correct to say a "dark tint" or "light shade" of any color, because a _tint_ implies a color _paler_ than the full color, while a shade means exactly the opposite; and to say an "orange shade (or tint) of red," a "greenish shade (or tint) of blue," a "bluish shade (or tint) of violet," etc., is an absurdity, for the term _hue_, which specifically and alone refers to relative position in the spectrum scale, without reference to lightness or darkness, is the only one which can correctly be used in such cases.

Indeed the standardization of color terms is almost if not quite as important, in the interest of educational progress, as that of the colors themselves and their names; therefore, to make easy a clear understanding of the specific meaning of each, the following definitions are given:—

_Color._—The term of widest application, being the only one which can be used to cover the entire range of chromatic manifestation; that is to say, the spectrum colors (together with those between violet and red, not shown in the spectrum) with all their innumerable variations of luminosity, mixture, etc. In a more restricted sense, applied to the six distinct spectrum colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet), which are sometimes distinguished as _fundamental colors_ or _spectrum colors_.

_Hue._—While often used interchangeably or synonymously with color, the term _hue_ is more properly restricted by special application to those lying between any contiguous pair of spectrum colors (also between violet and purple and between purple and red); as an orange _hue_ (not shade or tint, as so often incorrectly said) of red; a yellow _hue_ of orange; a greenish _hue_ of yellow; a bluish _hue_ of green; a violet _hue_ of blue, etc.

_Tint._—Any color (pure or broken) weakened by high illumination or (in the case of pigments) by admixture of white, or (in the case of dyes or washes) by excess of aqueous or other liquid medium; as, a deep, medium, light, pale or delicate (pallid) _tint_ of red. The term cannot correctly be used in any other sense.

_Shade._—Any color (pure or broken) darkened by shadow or (in the case of pigments) by admixture of black; exactly the opposite of _tint_; as a medium, dark, or very dark (dusky) _shade_ of red.

_Tone._—"Each step in a color scale is a tone of that color."[20] The term tone cannot, however, be properly applied to a step in the spectrum scale, in which each contiguous pair of the six distinct spectrum or "fundamental" _colors_ are connected by _hues_. Hence _tone_[21] is exclusively applicable to the steps in a scale of a single color or hue, comprising the full color (in the center) and graduated tints and shades leading off therefrom in opposite directions; or of neutral gray similarly graduated in tone from the darkest shade to the palest tint. Each one of the colored blocks in the vertical scales of the plates in this work represents a separate tone of that color.

_Scale._—A linear series of colors showing a gradual transition from one to another, or a similar series of tones of one color. The first is a _chromatic scale_[22] (or scale of colors and hues) and in the plates of this work is represented by each horizontal series; the second is a _tone scale_, on the plates running vertically, growing from the full color, in the center, to a pale tint (at the top) and a dark shade (at the bottom). For clearer comprehension of these two distinct scales, each plate of this work may be compared to a sheet of woven fabric; the chromatic scale (horizontal) representing the warp, the luminosity or tone scale (vertical) the woof. A third kind of color scale is represented by adding progressive increments of neutral gray to any color. This is shown by the several series of Plates, of which the first (Plates I-XII, with colors numbered 1-71) represents each step in the spectrum scale unmixed with gray, followed by five other series in which the same colors[23] are shown dulled by gradually increasing increments of neutral gray, the first (Plates XIII-XXVI, colors 1′-71′) containing 32 per cent., the second (Plates XXVII-XXXVIII, colors 1′′-71′′) 58 per cent., the third (Plates XXXIX-XLIV, colors 1′′′-69′′′) 77 per cent., the fourth (Plates XLV-L, colors 1′′′′-69′′′′) 90 per cent., and the fifth (Plates LI-LIII, colors 1′′′′′, 15′′′′′, 23′′′′′, 35′′′′′, 49′′′′′, 59′′′′′ and 67′′′′′) 95.5 per cent. of gray, the last being in reality colored grays. Finally scales are shown (on Plate LIII) of neutral gray (in which all trace of color is wanting), and of carbon gray, a simple mixture of lamp-black and chinese white. It is not easy to find a suitable name for these scales of reduced or "broken" colors, but they may, for present convenience, be termed _reduced_ or _broken scales_.

_Full Color._—A color corresponding in intensity with its manifestation in the solar spectrum.

_Pure Color._—A color corresponding in purity with (or, in the case of material colors, closely approximating to) one of the spectrum colors.

_Broken Color._—Any one of the spectrum colors or hues dulled or reduced in purity by admixture (in any proportion) of neutral gray, or varying relative proportions of both black and white; also produced by admixture of certain spectrum colors, as red with green, orange with blue, yellow with violet, etc. These broken colors are far more numerous in Nature than the pure spectrum colors, and include the almost infinite variations of brown, russet, citrine, olive, drab, etc. They are often called dull or neutral colors.

_Fundamental Colors._—The six psychologically distinct colors of the solar spectrum; Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Violet.

_Primary Colors._—Theoretically, any of the spectrum colors which cannot be made by mixture of two other colors. According to the generally accepted Young-Helmholtz theory, the primary colors are red, green, and violet: orange and yellow resulting from a mixture of red and green, and blue from a mixture of green and violet. There is considerable difference of opinion, however, as to this question, and further investigation of the subject seems to be required; at any rate, authorities fail to explain why red may be exactly reproduced (except as to the degree of luminosity) by a mixture of orange and violet, exactly as yellow results from mixture of red and green or blue from green or violet, green being, in fact, the only spectrum color that cannot be made by mixture of other colors.[24]

_Chroma._—Degree of freedom from white light; purity, intensity or fullness of color.

_Luminosity._—Degree of brightness or clearness. The relative luminosity of the spectrum colors is as follows: [Yellow (brightest)?], orange yellow; orange; greenish-yellow, yellow-green, and green; orange-red; red and blue (equal); violet-blue, blue-violet, violet.[25]

_Warm Colors._—The colors nearer the red end of the spectrum or those of longer wave-lengths (red, orange, and yellow, and connecting hues) "and combinations in which they predominate."[26]

_Cool, or Cold, Colors._—The colors nearer the violet end of the spectrum or those of shorter wave-length, especially blue and green-blue. "But it is, perhaps, questionable whether green and violet may be termed either warm or cool."

_Complementary Color._—"As white light is the sum of all color, if we take from white light a given color the remaining color is the complement of the given color." When any two colors or hues which when combined in proper proportion on the color-wheel produce, by rotation, neutral gray, these two colors each represent the complementary of the other.

_Constants of Color._—The constants of color are numbers which measure (1) the wave-length, (2) the chroma, and (3) the luminosity.

In addition to the terms defined above there are many others, for which the reader is referred to the chapter on "Color Definitions" on pages 23-30 of Milton Bradley's excellent and most useful book "Elementary Color."

TABLE OF PERCENTAGES OF COMPONENT COLORS IN THE CONNECTING HUES OF THE CHROMATIC SCALE.

The following table shows the relative percentages, in color-wheel measurement, of the two components in each of the hues connecting adjacent pairs of the six spectrum colors as represented on the original Plates of this work; together with an equal number of exact intermediates (not shown on the Plates), the latter in lower-case type and not indicated by symbols.

Number. Color. Red. Orange. Yellow. Green. Blue. Violet. Wavelength.[27] 1 Red 100 644 2 90 10 3 O-R 80 20 4 70 30 5 OO-R 60 40 6 50 50 7 R-O 40 60 8 30 70 9 OR-O 20 80 10 10 90 11 Orange 100 598 12 96 4 13 OY-O 91 9 14 86 14 15 Y-O 80 20 16 73.5 26.5 17 O-Y 65 35 18 56.5 43.5 19 YO-Y 47 53 20 36.5 63.5 21 O-YY 25 75 22 13.5 86.5 23 Yellow 100 577 24 87 13 25 YG-Y 75 25 26 64 36 27 G-Y 55 45 28 46 54 29 GG-Y 39 61 30 31 69 31 Y-G 24 76 32 17 83 33 GY-G 11 89 34 6 94 35 Green 100 520 36 96.5 3.5 37 GB-G 93 7 38 90 10 39 B-G 85 15 40 81 19 41 BB-G 75 25 42 69 31 43 G-B 61 39 44 54 46 45 BG-B 45 55 46 36 64 47 G-BB 25 75 48 13 87 49 Blue 100 473 50 84 16 51 BV-B 72 28 52 64 36 53 V-B 54 46 54 47 53 55 B-V 40 60 56 32 68 57 VB-V 22 78 58 12 88 59 Violet 100 410 60 3 97 61 VR-V 7 93 62 11 89 63 R-V 18 82 64 24 76 65 RR-V 33 67 66 41 59 67 V-R 52 48 68 64 36 69 RV-R 74 26 70 83 17 71 V-RR 90 10 72 95.5 4.5

TABLE SHOWING PERCENTAGE OF WHITE AND BLACK, RESPECTIVELY, IN EACH TONE OF THE TONE OR LUMINOSITY SCALES.

All of the vertical scales in the original Plates of this work (the scale of carbon grays alone excepted) contain the following percentages by color-wheel measurement:

TONE. PERCENTAGES. White. Color. Black. (White) 100 (g) 70 30 f 45 55 (e) 32 68 d 22.5 77.5 (c) 15 85 b 9.5 90.5 (a) 5 95 (Full Color) 100 (h) 64 26 i 55 45 (j) 41 59 k 29.5 70.5 (l) 20 80 m 12.5 87.5 (n) 6 94 (Black) 100

One of the most serious difficulties encountered in the preparation of the Plates of this work was the apparent impracticability of reproducing satisfactory shades of pure colors. This originated in the fact that there seems to be no substance (pigment, dye, or fabric) which represents a true black, all reflecting more or less of white light, and consequently producing shades which are dull or broken. The difficulty is increased by the additional fact that any black pigment mixed with almost any color falls short of even the color-wheel mixture in purity of hue in the resulting shades, owing to the very considerable amount of gray in all black pigments. Chromolithography can be made to produce clearer and better shades of the pure colors, but is distinctly objectionable for the purpose of a work of this kind owing to eventual oxidation of the oil or varnish with which the pigments are combined in lithographic inks, causing a change of hue; reds becoming more orange, blues more greenish, etc., in course of time.

While the absence (in large part) of pure chromatic shades is much to be regretted, the defect is not so serious, _from the standpoint of utility_, as might appear at first sight; for while saturated or darkened pure colors are not uncommon in the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, more or less broken dark colors are infinitely more so; and since the latter are greatly increased in number by the defect mentioned the actual result is rather an advantage than otherwise.

It will doubtless be noticed that there is a conspicuous difference in relative darkness between shades of yellow and contiguous hues on the one hand and corresponding ones of violet and adjacent hues on the other, as if the percentage of black in each were very different. This, however, is entirely the result of difference of luminosity of the two sets of colors, that of yellow being between 7000 and 8000 while that of violet is only about 13;[28] for the percentage of black in corresponding tones of the vertical scales is precisely the same for each color throughout the chromatic scale of this work.

TABLE SHOWING PERCENTAGES OF NEUTRAL GRAY IN THE BROKEN COLOR SCALES.

Every Plate in each series of broken colors (′ to ′′′′′) contains exactly the same percentage of neutral gray in each color, the relative amount increasing progressively in the several series, as shown in the following table. The percentages of white in the tints and of black in the shades of the tone scales are in all cases exactly the same as in the tone scales of pure colors.

SERIES. PERCENTAGES. Color. Neutral Gray. Pure Colors 100 (′) 68 32 (′′) 42 58 (′′′) 23 77 (′′′′) 10 90 (′′′′′) 4.5 95.5 Neutral Gray 100

TABLE OF PERCENTAGE OF BLACK AND WHITE IN THE DIFFERENT TONES OF CARBON GRAY.

TONE NUMBER. PERCENTAGES. Black. White. 1 100 2 98 2 3 94.5 5.5 4 89.5 10.5 5 83 17 6 75 25 7 67.5 32.5 8 58.5 41.5 9 47 53 10 30 70

_Note._—The percentages given in the preceding tables may not in all cases be precisely those actually contained in the colors on the Plates, since absolute precision in reproduction is hardly possible. All that can be claimed is a reasonably close approximation to the ideal.

DYES AND PIGMENTS USED IN THE PREPARATION OF THE MAXWELL DISKS, REPRESENTING THE THIRTY-SIX COLORS OF THE PURE SPECTRUM SCALE, FORMING THE BASIS OF THE COLOR-SCHEME OF THIS WORK.[29]

=Red.=—Devoe's _geranium lake_ (dry), its orange hue neutralized by a wash of _rhodamin b._ (_Crocein scarlet b._ washed with _rhodamin b._ produces practically the same fine red.)

=Hues between red and orange.=—_Crocein scarlet b._ with _gold orange_.

=Orange.=—_Gold orange_ with _orange g._

=Hues between orange and yellow.=—_Orange g._ with _auramin_.

=Yellow.=—_Auramin_, rather dilute. (The best substitute among pigments is a fine quality of _zinc yellow_, as Hatfield's.)

=Hues between yellow and green.=—_Auramin_ washed with _light green_.