Holmgren's Test for Color Blindness
name: label: used at
content: Cornell University
notes: label: Description
content: The late nineteenth century saw large increases in the speed of railroads, the miles of track, and the number and lethality of accidents. Alarik Frithiof Holmgren (1831-1897), a Swedish physiologist, argued that some railroad accidents were caused by undiagnosed color blindness. That is, by employees could not detect the colors of railroad signals (red, green, blue, and white). As this idea gained currency, railroads began testing potential employees for color blindness.
label: Description
content: Ref: Frithiof Holmgren, <i>Color-Blindness in its Relation to Accidents by Rail and Sea</i> (1877).
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
label: Associated Place
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Cornell University Department of Psychology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MG.300427.170
label: catalog number
content: 300427.170
label: accession number
content: 300427
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Test, Colorblindness
label: Object Name
content: colorblindness test
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: yarn (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: cardboard (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 10.8 cm x 31.2 cm x 12.5 cm; 4 1/4 in x 12 5/16 in x 4 15/16 in