The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-01-07
Frederick Haskin's Letter
What Color Is Your Life?

Washington. D. c., Jan. 6.-That
large percentage of divorces is
due to too much red in the nupt al
home, and that crime would de-
crease if the streets were lighted
/, with yeilowish green lights, is the
claim of the most recent professor
to come forward with new set Of
theories about color and the Ell
fects 1t has upon our lives.
| Conservatives will doubtless say
that the professor claims too much.
land perhaps he does, but the part
which color plays in the daily life
of everyone has never been prop
erly understood by most persons.
In fact, most men pay no conscious
attention to color at all, while most
women are concerned solely il
choosing those colors which har-
monte with t',eir hair and eyes
Tell the average man that the red
cover on his library table is injuc-
ing his nerves and he will laugh az
! you. Yet it is possible to give him
scientific proof of the fact. Red
has been shown by many expert
ments to stimulate the heart ac-
ton just as surely as a drug, and
to be a powerful nerve stimulant
as well. Orange, yellow, violet and
purple are also stimulating colors
Blue is a. soothing color and in
large quantities even a depressing
one. Green is perhaps the most
wholesome of all colors.
This seems TO be about all that is
concluSive!y known about the ply
siological effects of colors. Be
sides this, you may read a great
deal of theoretical stuff about the
colors of souls and of personalities,
the relations between color and
sound, and other, speculations of a
like nature. But of this much you
may be sure: the colors that sur
round you have an effect upon you,
and by regulating them proper ~
you may to some extent promote
your health and comfort.
Natures Use Of Color.
1t is interesting to note that tie
only colors which are in nature
used in large masses are green ana
blue. If the sky were to turn bright
red and the leaves and the grass
bright yellow, it is probable that
we would all go crazy. Many in
teresting reflections are suggested
by the use of color in nature It
lis strikingly noticeable that in
brightly sunlit countries, like our
own southwest. where all coloTs
are more brilliant, where the sun
sets are intensely colorful, and
where sunlight and distance work
queer color effects, nearly every
one feels an acute nervous stimulus,
amounting in some cases to a sense
Of exaltation. On the other hand,
cloudy rainy countries where all
colors are subdued. where a
shrouded green mixed with gray
predominates, ike the British Isles
for instance, are noted for the pro-
duction of healthy. somewhat
stodgy, people. The differences be-
tween persons Of the same blood
and race living in Arizona and in
Scotland are very noticeable. Just
how much of this difference is due
to color it would be hard to say. but
it seems probable that color &C
counts for a part of it.
1t has long been a mysterious
but well known fact that all migra-
lions and great movements OF
people generally have been west
ward. May not the fiaring reds and
yellOws of the sunset sky in the
west have something to do with
this?
Whatever such speculations may
be worth. it is worth anyones while
to know that some colOrs are stimu-