The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1885-01-24
CoLORs, LARGE AND SMALL.
IN. Y. Times.1

lessor Huxley, that size Is an attribute OF
color, or, in other words, that certain
colors are larger than other colors, is one
of the most remarkable discoveries Of
modern times. We have long been ac-
customed to speak of cold and warm and
loud and quiet colors, but these terms
have been used fguratively. That colors
are actually large or small is a literal fact,
and on reading the account of Professor
Huxley's experiments it is strange that
the discovery was not made long ago.
The professors attention was called to
the matter quite accidentally, through
the medium of stockings. He had bought
six pairs of stockings of the size known as
No, 10. Three of them were red and
three blue. On trying them on he found
that the blue stocking were too small and
the red ones rather too large. As
they were all No. 10 stockings it was
evident that the difference in the size be.
tween the red and blue pairs were due to
their respective color.
Pursuing his investigations in connec-
ton with stockings, Prof. Huxley found
that white stockings are larger than
either red or yellow, that black ones are
smaller than blue ones, and that, in short,
there is a regular scale of size in colors,
reaching from black up to white. Hav.
ing thus established the fact that colors
affect the size of stockings, he extended
his investigation to other fields, and con-
firmed the result of his stocking expert
ments.
Professor Huxley finds that white is
the largest of colors. White letters on
black ground can be seen much further
than black letters on white ground,
thus proving that the former are larger
than the latter. A woman in a white
dress is larger than she would be in blue,
and very much larger than she would be
in black. Women long ago intuitively
grasped the fact that black is the proper
wear for fat women. Dressmakers have
been accustomed to say that black silk
dress makes stout woman appear rea.
sonably small, but we now know that it
actually and literally reduces the size.
A series of experiments made with stout
woman that she weighed forty pounds
less when dressed in black than she
weighed when dressed in white. Prof
Huxley comedies that there may have
been some slight error in this experiment,
since the operation of changing the dress
was not personally conducted by him.
Still he believes that the error, if any,
was a small one, and that it did not ma.
terially affect the result.
Nearly every one has met in the sum.
mer time fat German dressed entirely
IN white; but thin white.clad German
Is something entirely unknown. OF
course, it is the white dress which makes
the German fat. Dress the same in blacl,
clothes, and he would be man of ordin-
ary size. The majestic appearance of the
that is to say, the size of-in short, the
ballet girl invariably wears white or very
light-colored tights, because white is the
largest of all colors. Brown and pink
may occasionally be used, but it is the
opinion of Professor Huxley that in near
ly all cases the attractiveness of the bal.
let is due to the imposing size.
Next to white. yellow is the largest Of
all colors. The New York Cab Company
has been fortunate in painting the lower
part of the cabs yellow, since by this
means they are much more roomy than
they would be had they been painted
black. So, too, the gilt and yellow
paint used on board our river steam
ers sensibly increases their tonnage
Most railway cars are painted red, an6
Professor Huxley estimates that red cal
which holds sixty passengers would moi
hold more than fifty were it painted blue
The world has long known that the red
coated British soldier is larger ant
braver man than the blue.coated French
man, but it has never hitherto occurred
to any one that this difference in size wa
due to the difference in colors. The Aus
tram soldiers, when clad in their tradi
t'onal white COATS weighed, on an aver