The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-04-20
COLOR BLINDNESS.
pilots who can Distinguish Colored
Lights but not Colcrs.
From, the Ne,o York Herald.

soeen examined IOr. Color DlnunesS III Une
Marine Hospital office of the port of New
Work. OF these, thirty-two have been re-
.Sected. Few people realize the danger
which is thus averted, by making would-be
,,;lors stand the test before they are given
license. Let anyone stand at the bow of
ferrvboat on foggy night or dark night
ND see how the pilot is aided in avoiding
Collisions with other vessels and with the
,,;ors nv the different colored lights that are
%nng ont. Then let the same person go to
a. Marine Hospital Office and see some
Ion who wants to steer boats under these
sc;rcum tances: putting bright red worsted
.Eein alongside of a dark green one and say
sng they are precisely the same color.
IF if were not for this color blind sieve in
+be Marine Hospital Office, which catches
the color blind applicants and prevents
their becoming pilots, there would be more
accidents on the bay and on the North and
Fast rivers. The test used is the Hobugren
fest which consists in making the appli-
cants watch the different colors and some
Of their more pronounced shades and name
them with the aid of number of worsted
skeins. which are tossed together in box.
There is one skein which puzzles all appli-
cants, who do not know whether to class it
with the yellow or with the green. This
puzzling combination of colors is no other
than the famed gallery green
jery" immortalized by the apostle of
ssstheticism, Oscar Wilde This test has
been in operation eight years. 1t was
mainly through the efforts of Surgeon
General John B. Hamilton that the test was
required by the Treasury Department, SO
that now every pilot, whether On river,
lake, bay or ocean, who holds a United
States license, has successfully passed the
examination. Like every advanced idea it
met with strong opposition at the outset,
and it required occasionally some nerve on
the part of the examining Surgeons of the
Marine Hospital Service and the Surgeon
General of the Board of Supervising In
spectors to enforce the regulation,
COLOR BLIND ALL THEIR LIVES.
Some men were found color blind who
had been plotting all their lives-forty and
fifty years-and who knew no other way of
making a living. 1t was hard on them to
be thrown out of employment. They
would bring all sorts of testimony as to
their ability as pilots. Their captains and
the owners of vessels they had piloted
would come and declare that these men had
never met with an accident Finally it was
decided by the Board of Supervisors that,
while an applicant for an original license
color blind, that those who sought a re-
newal Of license (which would, of course,
include all the old pilots) if found only in
completely color blind, might receive their
license on satisfying the United States local
inspectors of their ability to distinguish
signal lights. If, however, they were re-
ported as completely color blind that ended
the matter.
Previous to the introduction of this test a
49,.
put down as "unaccountable," and it is now
believed that many were due to the color
blindness of the pilots. Dr. Walter
Wyman, who, with Drs. Stoner and Arm
strong, conducts these examinations, told a
reporter that soon after the order was pro-
mulgated by the department he had to re-
ject pilot who was completely color blind,
but who nevertheless had been plotting for
more than forty years. He and his friends
tried in every possible way to override the
regulations. Numbers of masters
and owners called on the doctor
and expressed their willingness to
trust any vessel with him. He was,
they averred, one of the best pilots they
ever had, and pleaded that without his
license he could not make a living. Dr.
Wyman examined him several times in the
presence of his friends, in order to give
them ocular proof of his color blindness
After the applicant had given up the con-
test the examiner learned that he had met
some years before with an accident on the
water, which accident had seemed unac-
countable at the time. He had run a
steamer into bridge pier by failing to ap-
preciate the colored lights.
CONTEMPT OF OLD SALTS .foR SCIENCE.
While the old pilots were being exam
ined, . said DR.. Wyman, las fast as renew
ais of licenses were required we had many
interesting and some amusing scenes in the
Marine Hospital Office. 1t was impossible
for the old pilots to conceal their contempt
for the skeins of yarn.
What's that got to do with steerin' a
boat: kin tell signal light or I can see a
red stocking as fur as the next man, but |
never learned the yarn business. l reckon
my wife could tell more about these than l
can, one of them said. At the same time
they would be in evident trepidation over
the result
Zone pilot was rejected whose captain
called etterward to assure me there was
some mistake. He had known this man for
years, ana he felt convinced that he could
tell colors as well as he himself could. 1t.
therefore, gave him great satisfaction when
ne was requested to bring the pilot around
for another examination, with himself as a
witness, and there was a confident smile on
his face as the examination began. His
expression changed little as the pilot
slowly matched the grays alongside the
green, and his mouth opened wide as a sue
s'ion of other mistakes was being made
But when | picked up blue skein and a
pink skein, and holding them in my hand
asked if there was any difference, and the
applicant declared they were precisely the
same as to color, his captain sprung from
his clair with an old ia ,hioned sea oath
and abruptly left, slamming the door be-
hind him
PILOTS AFRAID OF sKEINs OF WoRsTED.
The pilots who got through first started
terrible stories about the severity and re-
qurements of the test, so that each sue
ceedlng pilot was more alarmed than the
preceding. | have seen great, 6-foot, nervy
men, who had proven their courage in time
OF disaster, who would hold ner nozzle agin
tne bank, while the boat was OH fire, with
jim Bludsoes heroism, shaking so that
actually they could not separate the yarns,
while the sweat was rolling off their faces
and Netting the sbeins."
At one time an effort was made to do
away with the yarn test, but DR.. Hamilton
invited DR.. B. Toy Jeffries, of Boston, the
celebrated occulist, to appear before the
Board Of Supervisors TO assist in defending
tne system. DIR. Jeffries has done more
IMAM any one In this country to show the
Danger arising from color blindness, and his
DOCK on the subject is used as the medical
examiners authority. The board was
readily convinced, and experience only
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