Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-06-11
COLOR.BLINDNESS.
Results OF the Examination Of
Is, 900 Persons In EnRIand-Defec.

lS,OOO PERSONS IN OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
tive Vision Of Jews and Quakcrs.
tLondon Telegraph
II appears from the report presented to
committee OF the Ophthalmological society by
its secretary, Or. Bradley, that out of 1s,oss
persons examined Hncludfng boys In Elton
Westminster, and Christ'a Hospital schools
and 5000 members of the Metropolitan Police)
the sight OF upward of $50 persons was found
defective. The average OF defects was IL times
as great Ia males as among females, or 4 I6 In
the former and a Ia the latter. Among wo-
men, also. any but slight cases are very rare,
Among men, On the contrary, they form rather
less than half OF the entire number. There.
Tore, the pronounced cases are at least 25 per
cent, varying from this number In Eton School
and the professional class to more than 8 in
the police and the poorer schools OF London.
Ine MAN defect In most OF the pronounced
cases, say In per cent OF the whole number of
mates examined, is an inability to distinguish
req from green. Red looks to those so affected
as very oomore color, in all probability as
some shade OF dark yellowish brown. Green Is
somewhat similar to this. They see other
colors correctly, and by contrast very strongly
Jews are more color blind than any other ma
uonallty, and their defects are usually of the
pronounced kind. The members of the Society
OF Friends are rather more color blind than
the average, though the excess OF their defects
Is Principally constituted by the slighter forms
t Of ooiof 6llndnessI e. an Inability to dis
most colors. Inmates OF deaf and dumb asy-
lums are very defective as regards coiors.
CoiUf-ullUuNtSS QOSS nOt mean q want OF &C.
quaintance with the names of cOlora Mistakes
nom this cause are avoided by the mode of
testing, which consists iu giving the candi-
0ate coored sketn Of wool, green to begin
with, and asking him to pick out of bundle
all that are any thing like that color mot nam
Ing IT, NO notice is taken OF inability to match
SHADES OF the same color. People who cannot
tell red WOODS from green also fafl to tell red
signai ilght from green. Indeed, they often
cannot see the red light at all unless they are
much closer to it than to others. Examina.
lions h0ge not been made Of railway servants
In England till quite recently, and now on
many lines the system Is imperfect ana incom-
plete. At sea no examination at all of common
sailors Is made. A collision at sea occurred
near Norfolk, United States OF America, in
1875, In which 10 persons were drowned owing
TO the captain mistaking a green light for q
red. Five years later he was examined and
found to be color blind. DR.. Bradley thinks
that those who confuse red with green see
neither one color nor the other. but in the
place of both some neutral shade, sucn as
gray. He thinks that the greater deficiency OF
Quakers as compared with others Is due TO
the fact that the poorer Quakers especially
nave oeen for many generations very ascetic
In their houses and dress, avoiding the use OF
all colors. Also that the Jews have strength
ened their defects by the inter marriages
which have been always the custom of The
race. He observes the natural love OF dress
and greater precocity of mind at an early Pc
Rod Of life has been the cause Of greater acute
ness of color vision.