The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-03-12
CURIOSITIES IN COLOR.
Blue Rays Are HurtfuI to Animal and
Vegetable Growth.
(PhiIadelphia PrcssO

Put a growing plant under red glass.
and it shoots up very tall and spindly.
Green glass causes a similar effect, but
not quite so strongly marked Blue glass
on the other hand seems TO dwarf veget-
able growth.
4 plant grown under blue glass is al
ways smaller than it's neighbor under
transparent glass, although the condi-
lions are otherwise similar
A series, of experiments in growing
plants under various cOlored glasses was
conducted by the well known astronomer
Camille FlammariOn, and the results, as
above, reported by him to the French
academy.
Light and color are fun of odd puzzles,
many of which are still a good deal OF a
mystery. DR.. Mel Finsen. famous for his
electric light invention for the cure Of
cancer, made exhaustive experiments on
the effects of lights of various cOlOrs on
various forms of animal life.
One or two of these were very interest
ing. For instance. he placed a number
of earth worms in a box covered half
with red, half with blue glass. In every
case the worms We're found to crowl away
from under the blue glass and take shell
ter under the red, where they remained
quite content
A chameleon lizard was then placed by
| the experimental in a small box, so that
half its body was under blue and the
other half under red glass. He noticed
that at once the part under the blue rays
turned black, While that part under red
dent that the creature was using its pig
ment cells to protect itself against the
disa greeable effects of the blue light.
1t is now universally acknowledged that
the blue rays are, of all the visible rays
which we receive from the sun, the only
ones that can produce injurious effects
upon animal or plant hfe- 1t is these
blue rays that cause soaring in smallpox
The skin in this disease becomes almost
as sensitive a a Photographic plate. If
the patient is kept in the dark no scar
harmless as darkness and less unpleasant
to the patient
Sunstroke, as we call it, is produced not
by light rays at all, but by the chemical
rays of the sun. SunstrOke may thus be
termed a photOSra phic effect, and we
can therefore use color to fight it.
Treat the body as photographer treats
his dark plates EnVelop il not in black
as usually done, but in orange. An orange
cOlored shirt and a coat and hat lined
with orange fabric have actually been
tried by officers in India who had to
march during hot weather. Men so at
tired were certainly rendered immune TO
sunstrOke.
Certain blind persons can tell the color
of a flower by laying it against their
cheek. Actual experiment shows that
blossoms of certain colOrs are in reality
warmer than those of other tints.
A scientist, who recently carried out a
series of such experiments found that
dark reds and browns gave the sensation
of greatest warmth. while lemon yellow
was the coolest color. Pink is warmer
than white. but white-curiously enough
is warmer than violet. blue or yellow
\ rather odd fact about yellow is that
a yellow light has greater power of pen
etration in fOggy weather than a pure
white one. It has been proved that the
yellowish light of oil gas in light
house lantern can be seen further out at
sea than can the pure white of an electric
lamp.
In clear weather and by daylight green
is visible at the greatest distance of any
scarlet, which is usually imagined to be
the most brilliant OF colors. Indeed. blue
and even dark grey, are far more visible
color, much further. Cor instance at 2
distance than is scarlet.