The evening times., 1900-02-24
The Influence OF Color.

Scientists have recently turned their at
tention to the influence of color on pa
tients suffering from certain diseases. 1t
is claimed that in cases of measles small
pox. and like ailments the hue of furni-
ture hangings and clothing is CT impor-
tance This is not new idea. The blue
glass cure" Of a quarter of a century ago
is still remembered. and away back in
the days OF Henry l. of England it was
claimed that an English Prince was cured
of smallpox largely through the use Of
scarlet clothing hangings. and furniture
Il is also said quite positively by Hindu
philosophers that there is a distinct and
weIl-understcod relation between colofs
and mental and physical attributes. and
they prescribe garments Of certain tints
as mental and moral tonics.
Whatever may be the exact scientific
value of this agent in the treatment Of dis
ease. there is every reason to suppose that
il has some value especially upon pa
tients who are at all sensitive in such
matters. To some people an inharmonious
contrast of color in the room where they
are in as offensive as a discOrd is to
trained musician. They object as strong
~ to crude greens. yiolets. and crimson-,
badly combined. as a person with an ear
fer music would to hearing piece of IN
ferior character badly played over and
over again. Others, without this keen
sense of color values. still feel the dif-
ference between room or costume ar
ranged with due reference to these Drin-
eiples. and one which violates every Law vi
harmony. There are few indeed who have
not at least a rudimentary taste in such
matters.
1t is rather important that the American
public should be educated in this respect.
As a people we have lost the instructive
understanding of esthetic laws which
primitive peoples seem to have. and we
have not vet learned to understand them
with the brain The Indians blanket. the
German. Norwegian. French, and Italian
peasant costume. show a finely developed
sense of the laws Of color. which has
grown up through generations of evolution.
Lafcadio Hearn states that the negroes and
half breeds of Martinique. during the two
hundred or more years i'll which they came
in contact with civilization through say
cry. developed an exactly regulated scheme
of color which governed absolutely the
costumes of the women. They did this
without instruction. and apparently
through sheer Intuition. The Colors which
women of each complexion might properly
wear were prescribed almost to a shade,
and only certain combinations of these
could be used. The result, as one may
see by reading the scheme of arrange
ment. was a singular and gorgeous beau
ty of costume which might easily. when
developed in rich fabrics, eclipse the most
carefully constructed European gowns.
This illustrates rather curiously the gen.
eral rule that untutored human nature
chooses the. artistic by intuition. The rea
son why the garments Of the country boy
or girl. or the half-civilized savage, seem
grotesuue to urban eyes is not that the
gay color is in itself ill-chosen, but that
il is in the wrong place and form When
a peasant wears a red shirt or a country
girl a gown of dull blue, the effect. in the
woods and fields. is what we call pictur-
esuue The same costume, in drawing
room developed in broadcloth or satin
would seem ridiculous. We lose some
thing in artistic beauty and appropriate
ness in following the fashions set by Par
is and London. The peasant dress of the
Old World has a beauty of form and color
which is all its own. Perhaps this has
something to do with the quaint charm
of life among the peonle We do not know
how much mere beauty of garb and sur.