Evening journal., 1903-09-01
MADNESS IN COLORS.
TINTS THAT WILL TURN THE BRAIN
AND INVITE DEATH.

furDAe II tuc moht A9NhuA OF All
Hues, and Scarlet Is Nearly as Bad.
Blue VIII Stimulate the Brain, hut
1t VIII Wreck the Nerves.
If purple walls and red tinted win
dows surrounded you for month, with
no color but purple around you, by the
end Of that time you would be a mad
man. No matter how strong the brain
might be, 1t would not stand the strain,
and it is doubtful if you would ever re-
cover your reason, for purple is the
most dangerous color there is in its
effects on the brain, which it reaches
by way Of the nerves Of the eye.
A splash or two of any other color
in the room would save your reason for
some time longer, but dead purple
would kill you eventually as surely as
would foul air. Scarlet is as bad, but
scarlet has a different effect. 1t pro-
duces what is called homicidal mania
"a madness that drives its victim to
kill his fellows, especially his nearest
relatives. Even on animals scarlet has
this effect. 1t will drive a bull or
tiger to charge a naked spear. But
purple, on the contrary, brings on mel
ancholy or suicidal mania.
Blue, as long as there is no trace Of
red in it, stimulates the brain and helps
it, but its effect on your nerves, if you
are saturated with it and cannot get
away from it, is terrible. Scientists
class blue as a kind of drug in its ef-
fects on the brain.
1t excites the imagination and gives
a craving for music and stagecraft,
but it has a reaction that wrecks the
nerves. If you doubt it stare hard for
a few minutes at a large sheet Of
bright blue paper or cloth-not flowers,
for there is a good deal Of green in
their blue-and you will find that it
will make your eyes ache and give you
a restless, uneasy feeling.
Green, on the other hand, is the king
Of colors, and no amount Of it can do
any harm. On the contrary, it soothes
the whole system and preserves the
eyesight. If you were shut up in an
artificial green light for month it
would develop your eyesight immense
ly, but it would be fatal, because when
you returned to the world you would
be utterly unable 70 stand ordinary
lights and colors and you would GER
tainly contract ophthalmia, or possibly
destroy the optic nerve altogether un-
less you were very mindful to take
great care.
Most people imagine the sky in clear
weather to be blue 1t is really white
tinged with green. 1t is only the dis
tance and clearness which make It
seem blue.
Green is so soothing that it makes
a big difference in the length Of an
illness, helping the system to fight the
disease. and nearly all hospital wards
have every possible detail about them
colored green. Sage green is the most
soothing tint Of all; metallic green,
however, is by no means so good.
Solitary confinement in a yellow cell
for six weeks will hopelessly weaken
any system and produce chronic hys-
terra. A long course Of 1t will pro-
duce foolish lunacy, and even on a
guinea pig or a rabbit will drive the
animal at last to bite and wound itself
or reduce it to such a state Of nervous
ness that It will die Of sheer fright If
suddenly startled.
On the other hand, If you are not
smothered with it yellow is the healthi-
est, cheeriest color there is, and will
make a dark room bright and habita-
BILE when even green would be cold
and depressing. But to be well "soused"
with yellow day and night, and to be
unable to get away from it, would
bring you to nervous madness within
two months at the outside.
Sheer dead white, unbroken, will de-
stroy your eyesight as surely as cata-
ract would If you are exposed to it for
few days-a week at the latest. It
kills the optic nerves, and the sight
goes out like a candle, while the effect
on the brain is so maddening that
blindness is almost q relief.
This is why arctic explorers have to
wear colored goggles" Of green tinted
glass; otherwise "snow blindness" as
1t is called, and which is really white
blindness" is almost a certainty. Even
in the polar regions, though, the white
is not complete. The sky breaks it. II
it did not no man could keep his eye
sight there without glasses.-New York
News.