Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1943-01-31
BY GEORGE III. ECKHARDT

BY GEORGE H. ECKIARDT
G 1913 by American Weekly. Rights
WEN the strongest nervous system can de-
velop case Of jitters if exposed too long to
nw an annoying color, says DR.. William s. Wads-
worth, eminent physician of Philadelphia, who has
spent many years studying the effects of color on
people.
The shade of a woman's evening gown, while
admired by everyone else, may literally drive her
husband to drink-at least on the evenings she
wears it. The color of the living room curtains,
though the subject never is mentioned may be
cause for breaking up happy home if that colcr
continually gets on someone's nerves.
Even childhood contemplation of that hideous
wallpaper, with green and yellow cab5ages ever
lastingy shrieking for attention may have started
some OF the neurotic men and women of today on
the anything but rosy paths to their neuroses,
according to DR.. Wadsworth's theory. Those who
didn't suffer from screaming wallpaper may have
been badly influenced by too much looking at that
awful purple brocade grandmother wore when she
sat for her portrait
Since color is becoming more and more inn
portant in everyday life it may be time to sit up
take notice and decide to which colors one safely
can be exposed
Everywhere bright pigments take the place of
the drab hues of other days In homes, Offices
railway cars and even some subway stations the
scene has taken on a new brilliance In manv
places use of colored lights makes it possible to
change the color scheme of whole room at the
snap of a switch.
The next step, it is predicted by lighting ex-
perts will be use of color for "mood-conditon:ng"
the home, matter which some think is lust as
important ACKNOWLEDGING.
This according to Mr.. Samuel G.. Hbben of
the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing
Company, will be done not only by use of colored
lights but with the aid of fluorescent paint and
fabrics which change color when black light one
of the latest magic wands of science is shone upon
them, and by the use Of coored teevision in the
homes of the future.
first aph ind, dto1y L;
mood colors." Otherwise, a snap of the switch
Or daub of the paintbrush-might throw John
Jones into rage when what he wanted was calm
and contentment Black light shining on the wrong
kind of fluorescent paint might make him "see
red or give him an endless siege of the blues
which not even bringing in distant golden sunset
or view of Niagara Falls-via televison-coud
dispel.
DR.. Wadsworths experiments led him to be-
leve that few people are affected in exactly the
same way by any color. He suggests that those
who want to find out which colors are good for
their nerves and which are bad should try a
simple experiment such as he uses on his own
subjects
All that is needed for the experiment are several
large sheets OF colored tissue paper and a window
Cover the window with, let us say an orange sheet
of paper so all the light coming through is orange
After bathing yourself in this orange light for a
while how do you feel? Then try another color
Is the result the same?
The busy housewife might try doing her work
under the influence of different colors of light
According to Dr. Wadsworth's theory she prob
ably would find that color almost turned
work into play while another made her so nervous
she wanted to scream.
People who always nervous and irritable
may be that way because they are surrounded by
trouble-maker colors. Sometimes Dr. Wadsworth
explains, 1t IS even possible to tell that man or
woman is suffering from disease, merely by watch
ing the coors that individual wears or uses in
his home
To illustrate this the Doctor tells of a man who
at one time was a prominent artist When Dr.
Wadsworth first saw this mans paintings at one
o. the annual art exhibits he detected disturb
ances of the artists mind merely by the way in
which the man handled certain colors
DR.. Wadsworth naturally said nothing since
he was not being consulted, but to himself, the
medical man made the diagnosis that "Nlr X is
suffering from such and such disease and will
live only about six years"