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    October 28, 1854.] THE LEADER. 1025

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    We have hesitated to include Mr. Francis...

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    Mr, Jambs . Henry Powell is a working en...

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    THE PRINCIPLES OF HARMONY AND CONTRAST O...

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    Moke Versifiers. The Dream Of Pythagoras...

    for private circulation at a fashionable watering-place in the North . Whether the Major Poems have been published , or are destined to appear , the Minor Poems being pioneers , we cannot say , but from a glance at the latter we should divine that the author was a constant reader of Tennyson and Shelley .

    October 28, 1854.] The Leader. 1025

    October 28 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 1025

    We Have Hesitated To Include Mr. Francis...

    We have hesitated to include Mr . Francis Turner Paxgrave's Idyls and Sonffs in our present Batch ; not , we regret to be compelled to say , on account of their merits , but in deference to their pretensions . These Idyls and Songs are purely and simply a pasticcio of reminiscences , scarcely disguised enough to excite even that agreeable curiosity with , which we trace back an air of Rossini to its original creation by Haydn or Mozart . There is scarely a so-called original " poem" in the volume which , does not assert its parentage , and Mr . Palgrave has laid the Poet Laureate , to whom he dedicates his pages , under special contribution . Often , while the idea is borrowed , every trick and tone is aped to a marvel . We only miss the genius , the art/—in a word , the poetry of the model . The translations from

    the Greek , from Catullus and Horace , from the German and Italian , are respectably feeble ; the love-songs are languid puerilities , the passion is a sickly pretence . Altogether , we have felt it-would be a bad precedent to notice more than summarily these ambitious imitations . Mr . Palgrave is , it seems , a Fellow of Exeter College , Oxford , and he bears a name of literary significance . His verses , as may be supposed , do not fail of a certain correct finish , and even an occasional felicity of expression ; indeed , the elaboration is only too evident . There is nothing that would not grace an album and delight a tea-table in these Idyls ; but let us assure Mr . Palgrave , with all possible kindness , and before he commits himself more deeply to the delusion , he is no poet , and , perhaps , an indifferent mimic .

    Mr, Jambs . Henry Powell Is A Working En...

    Mr , Jambs . Henry Powell is a working engineer at Birkenhead ; he is also a man of diligent self-culture , a man of heart and intelligence . H ere is one of the many noble examples of the elite of our operative classes who devote their hard-earned and scanty leisure to inspiring studies and consoling recreations ; taking refuge from the weary round of work in the society of books , strengthening and refreshing their minds by silent communion with the good and great of all ages . This unassuming little collection of studies is appropriately dedicated to Lord Goderich , and we are glad to find the writer acknowledging the kindness of his employers , who have encouraged his intellectual efforts . ,

    The Principles Of Harmony And Contrast O...

    THE PRINCIPLES OF HARMONY AND CONTRAST OF COLOURS . ( second akticle . ) It was Buffbn , the great naturalist , who first observed what he named accidental colours ' , he pointed out certain conditions in which these colours are risible . These are , —pressure upon the eye , or any sudden concussion , a strong impression of bright light , as a direct ray from the sun , —continued vision of any colour , —and change of vision from colour to white , or no colour . In these two last resides OhevreuUs theory of contrast , simultaneous and successive ; but to these he adds a third condition , which he calls the mixed—i . e ., when an entirely new colour is presented while the eye retains the u aptitude" to see the complement of a different coloirtR After relating many experiments , he says : —

    " When a purchaser has for a considerable time looked at a yellow fabric , and he is then shown orange or scarlet stuffs , it is found that he takes them to be amaranthrei or crimson , for there is a tendency in the retina excited by yellow to acquire an aptitude to see violet , whence all the yellow of the scarlet or oranga stuff" disappears , and the eye see * red , or a red tinged with violet . If there is presented to a buyer one after another fourteen pieces of red stuff , ho will -consider the last six or seven less beautiful than those first seen , although the pieces be identically the same . What is the cause of this error of judgment ? It is , that the eyes having seen seven or eight red pieces in succession are in the same condition as if they had regarded

    fixedly during the same period of time a single piece of red stuff ; they have then a tendency to see the complementary of red—that ia to eay , green . Thia tendency goca of necessity to enfeeble the brilliancy of the red of the pieces scon later . In order that the merchant may not be the sufferer by this fatigue of the eyes of his customer , he must take care , after having shown the latter seven pieces of red , to present to him some pieces of green stuff to restore the oyes to their normal state . If the sight of the greon be sufficiently prolonged to exceed the normal state , the eyes -will acquire a tendency to aee red , then the last seven red pieces will appear more beautiful than the others . ''

    A . section ia devoted to the physiological cause' of the phenomena of contrast in which are given the explanations by Schcrffer , HaUy , and Laplace ; with which , however ,, M . Chcvreul is not satisfied , remarking that : — < c Every author who has treated , of accidental colours agrees in considering them as being the result of fatigue of the eye . If this be incontestaWy true in the case of successive contrast , I do not believe it to be so of simultaneous contrast , for , in arranging the coloured bands in the munnor I have done , aa soon as wo succeed in seeing all four together , the colours aro observed to bo modified before the eye becomes in the least degree fatigued , although I admit that it often requires several seconds to perceive these modifications . " But is not this time necessary , as is that which is given to the exercise of each of our senses , whenever we wish to explain to > ourselves a sensation that affects them ?

    fho following experiment illustrates my idea : —A coloured paper , upon which letters of a jmle grey had been traced , was presented to mo one evening at twilight ; on first looking at it I could not distinguish a single letter , but in a few minutes I contrived to rua < l the writing , which appeared to mo to have boon traced witli an ink of a colour complementary to that of the ground . Now , 1 ask , if at the moment when my vision was distinct , my oyes wore more fatigued than when I Jflrst looked at the- paper without bolug able to distinguish the letters upon it , « nd which wore soon to bo of the colour complementary to that of the ground ?" The sense of colour , and the pleasure derived from what wo call the harmony of colours , remain , after all , amongst the mysteries of our philosophy j wo are accumulating facts by such researches na thowc of M . Cnuvroul , and those are of valuable practicable application ; but the physiological cause is us fur removed from our ken as in regard to every other kind ol sensation . It ia nothing to sny , the eyo has an aptitude to see thia or that colour , or desires to sec them , or that it ia constructed to see

    white light , and so always endeavours to supply the colours wanting by a spectral complement . As to the eye being constructed to see white * lio-ht how should this be , when the variety of colours about na is endless ? ° It should rather be made to see colours . We suspect that something much more mechanical will be found to be the cause . The s « nse of touch , for example , depends upon the conduction of an impression along a continuous filament of nerve ; perhaps in a manner similar to the conveying of the slightest mechanical impression from one end . of a p iece of wood to- the other . The sense of vision may be analogous , because it consists of the reception of very rapid vibrations upon filaments of nerve , which vibrations are found to vary in their beat for every colour ; red vibrating 482 millions of millions of times in a second , yellow 542 , and violet 707 . In touch , we perceive more than one quality ; we can tell if the object is hard or soft , smooth or rough , angular or round , hot or cold ,

    wet or dry ; something besides contact . So , in hearing , we perceive the noise * of the blow of the hammer upon a bell as well as the musical sound ; and , what is v « ry curious , this sound is not more pure than a primary colour , for it is accompanied with others which produce with it a harmony upon the ear . In looking upon a coloured disc upon a white ground , it appears surrounded with a halo of its complementary colour , as in Buffon * s experiment ; and when the disc is removed , its place * will be filled with an illusive disc of the complementary colour . Now it is natural to suppose , that when a . part of the surface of the retina is made to vibrate by coloured rays , the surrounding parts of the nervous surface are also affected by vibrations of a less rapid kind communicated to them ; and when the colour is removed the

    vibrations begin to cease , the state of repose being preceded by the diminution of the vibrations and the spectral sight of the colour which affords the greatest relief to the organ . The result of fatiguing the eye with one colour seems to be accountable in the same way ; the retina becomes less and less susceptible , and conveys false impressions of a lower rate of pulsation . Why green should be seen with red , or yellow with blue , it is not easy to decide ; one would suppose there must be some numerical ratio between their vibrations . M . Ghevreul applies his system , most completel y ^ from painting in its highest sense through every kind of decorative use of it ; then to wbrks of art in coloured materials of a ^ definite size , such as the tapestries , damasks and mosaics , even down to clothing and horticulture . Of true pictures , andthose purely ornamental , he says : — -

    " The colouring of a picture may be true or absolute ^ and yet the effect may not bo agreeable , because the colours of the objects have no harmony . On the contrary , a picture may please by the harmony of the local colours of each object , by that of tho colours of objects contiguous to each other , and yet may offend by the gradation of the lights and shades , and by the fidelity of the colours . In a ¦ word , it offends by trite or absolute colouring ; and the proof that it might please , is , that pictures in flat tints , the colours of which , are perfectly assorted to the eye , although , opposed to those which we know belong to the objects imitated , produce , under the relation of general harmony-of colours , an extremely agreeable effect . " " For a painter to be a perfect colourist , he must not only imitate the model by : reproducing the image faithfully , in respect to aerial perspective relative to tho variously coloured light , but also , the harmony of tints must be found in . the local colours , and in the colours of tho different objects imitated ; and this is the place to remark , that if in every composition there are colours inherent to the model which the painter cannot change without being unfaithful to nature , there are others at his disposal -which muat be chosen so as to harmonise with the first . "

    In trade , ignorance of the Jaws of contrast has often given rise to disputes which could only be settled by appealing to Chevreul . " Certain drajers having given to a calico-printer some cloths of a single colour , — red , violet , and fclue , —upon which they wished black figures to be printed , complained that upon the red cloths he had put green patterns , upon the violet the figures appeared greenish-yellow , —upon the blue— they were orange-brown or copper-coloured , instead of the black , which they had ordered . To convince them that they had no ground for complaint , ifc sufficed to have recourse to the following proofs : — " I surrounded the patterns with white paper , so as to conceal the ground ; the designs then appeared black . " I placed some cuttings of black cloth upon stuffs coloured red , violet , and blue ; the cuttings appeared like the printed designs—i . e . of the colour complementary to the ground , although the same cuttings , when placed upon a white ground , were of a beautiful black . " It seems that there is a clothes' philosophy of a practical kind—science will enable us to put the best face upon a worn-out wardrobe .

    " A . coat , waistcoat , and trousers of the same colour cannot be worn together with advantage except when new ; for -when ono of them has lost its freshnoss by havingbeen more worn than the others , the difference will be increased by contrast . Thun now black trousers , worn with a coat and waistcoat of tho same colour , hut old and slightly rusty , will bring out this latter tint ; while at the uamo timo tho black of tho trousera will appear brighter . White trousers , reddish-grey alao , will correct tho effect of which I speak . We seo , then , the advantage of having a soldier ' s trousera of another colour than his coat , especially if , wearing this coat all tho year , ho only wears trousora of tho same cloth during winter . " Wo see , also , why white trousers ara favourable to ccats of every colour , as 1 have already said . " The dreas of ladies of all types of complexion is elaborately treated : —

    "If wo consider tho colours which generally pass as assorting best with light oi black hair , wo ahall see that they aro precisely those which produce tho greatest contracts ; thus , sky-blue , known to accord well with blondes , is the colour that approaches tho nearest to tho complementary of orange , which ia tho basis of tho tint of their hair and complexions . Two colours long esteemed to accord favourably with bl « ck hair , —yellow , and rod more or less orange , —contrast in tho samo manner with them . " " Tho linings of tho "boxes of n , thoatro should novor be roao-red , wine-red , or light crimson , becuu so those colours havo tho serious disadvantago of making tho skin of tho spectators appear more or loss greon . " " A delicate greon is , on tho contrary , favourable to all fair complexions which aro deficient in rose , and which may havo more imparted to thorn without inconvenience . " " Tellow imi » jirt 9 violet to a fair akin , and in thia view it in leoa favourable than tho delicate green .

    * " Nojhos" aro auid to bo produced by irregular vibration * j and musical sounds , by vibrations rocurring at regular interval . FurmUntf tlio analogy , wo might say that daylight ia tho rouult of irregular vibrations , and colours of equal or rytlunical vibrations .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 28, 1854, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28101854/page/17/