Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1885-07-30
COLOR-BLINDNESS.
TO DISTINGUISH RED THE
MOST FREQUENT DEFECT.
Green the Next Color Most Frequently
Mistakenly More Affected Than
Women-Tests Of Color Kindness
Various Experiments.


The most frequent defect in color blind
ness Is the inability to distinguish red. A
distinguished professor in an English uni
yersity once Wore scarlet gown through
the streets, mucn to the anu ,ement of many
who saw him Ga being asked by a friend
what appeared to him % be the color OF this
robe, he answered pointing to some ever
greens near by: 1t seems to me to resem-
bic those rs closely As possible" The next
color most frequently mistaken for some
other is green. TIE Importance Of this de-
feet is estimated by the frequency of its
occurrence. If it occurs only once in 10 900
persons, it is of course of lie 8 Importance
than if happening once in 100.
Men are more frequently effected with
this defect of vision than women. The de-
feet, when it - congenital, a it is in most
OF the ca eS under the observation Of physi-
cianS is incurable 1t is sometimes induced
by immoderate Use Of tobacco or liquor As
many as one IN twenty-five OF the men en-
ployed on lines of travel are affected by this
inability to distinguish red from green The
color blind in case of accident by travel on
land and sea can not readily be detected be-
cause of the difficulty of tracing the causes
OF tue accident. One thus affected can not
tell n red from green hght, but one of these
lights appaars darker or les brig ht 60 him
than tie other.
The test of color blindness is not how well
one can name colors, but how much he sees
them Ii two letters be drawn. one red and
another green, on background, a person
who is red blind will distinguish only the
green letter, and party who is green blind
would fail To distinguish or see the green
letter In other words, to the first the red
color is suppressed and to the second the
green The red blind will place purple or
a green alongside of a roe color. suppo ing
them all TO To the same shade The green
blind VIII cunfouni the blue and the gray
with tie ross color
The test for an engineer is not 10 name
colors ami shades of color, but to know red
a. red and green as green. and to n itch red
with red ami green with green Of their
various shades. -Four per cent OF the 81, 900
employees of the Penn ylvania railway
have ieen foIni totally color blind and
10 per cent more or less affected
with this defect OF vision Five per cent of
the same were found with imp .rfect hear
ing. In tbs city lives well known animal
PAINTER who is entirely color blind. He SO
iects his color not b. knowing the color
itself, lut by reading their names on the
tube. He employs u-ually only black,
brown and white in his work.
DIR. fries If Philadelphia instituted
very efficient test % color-bln lnsss by sus-
pending numbered skeins of worstei of diff
ferent colors from a rod. The standard
colors OF rose. red and green. with all the
various shades of these colors. were num-
berei with the odd numbers. All other col.
ors were numbered with even mum crs. The
per-on- examined for blindness were
invited TO match shades of the thres named
before as the standard, and if any 20 named
were among tho-e numbered with the even
numbers it was seen at ouce that they were
unable TO distinguish colorS