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Maxwell, J. Clerk. "On the Theory of Three Primary Colours."

From George Eastman House : Notes On Photographs

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WHEN the compound nature of the solar light was first discovered by the illustrious Newton, it was supposed to consist of seven primary colours; but natural philosophers have long since arrived at the conclusion that three only out of the seven are entitled to be regarded as primaries, the remainder being produced by different combinations of these three. The primary colours have been considered as blue, yellow, and red; but certain experiments performed by Professor Maxwell have led him to the conclusion that although the number of the primary colours is really three, yellow ought properly to be placed among the secondaries, being really a combination of green and red-the former colour, green, being entitled to rank as a primary.

The following is an authenticated abstract of a lecture, enunciating these principles, recently delivered at the Royal Institution by the learned Professor.]

The speaker commenced by showing that our power of vision depends entirely on being able to distinguish the intensity and quality of colours. The forms of visible objects are indicated to us only by differences in colour or brightness between them and surrounding objects, To classify and arrange these colours, to ascel'tain the physical conditions on which the differences of coloured rays depend, and to trace, as far as we are able, tIle physiological process by which these different rays excite in us various sensations of colour, we must avail ourselves of the united experience of painters, opticians, and physiologists, The speaker then proceeded to state the results obtained by these three classes of inquirers, to explain their apparent inconsistency by means of Young's Theory of Primary Colours, and to describe the tests to which he had subjected that theory.

Painters have studied the relations of colours, in order to imitate them by means of pigments. As there are only a limited number of coloured substances adapted for painting, while the number of tints in nature is infinite, painters are obliged to produce the tints they require by mixing their pigments in proper proportions. This leads them to regard these tints as actually compounded of other colours, corresponding to the pure pigments in the mixture. It is found that by using three pigments only we can produce all colours lying within certain limits of intensity and purity. For instance, if we take carmine (red), chrome yellow, and ultramarine (blue), we get by mixing the carmine and the chrome all varieties of orange, passing through scarlet to crimson on the one side and to yellow on the other; by mixing chrome and ultramarine we get all hues of green; and by mixing ultramarine with carmine we get all hues of purple, from "violet to mauve and crimson, Now, these are all the strong colours that we ever see or can imagine: all others are like these, only less pure in tint, Our three colours can be mixed so as to form a neutral grey; and if this grey be mixed with any of the hues pro· duced by mixing two colours only, all the tints of that hue will be exhibited, from the pure colour to neutral grey. If we could assume that the colour of a mixture of different kinds of paint is a true mixture of the colours of the pigments, and in the same proportion, then an analysis of colour might be made with the same ease as a chemical analysis of a mixture of substances.

The colour of a mixture of pigments, however, is often very different from a true mixture of the colours of the pure pigments. It is found to depend on the size of the particles, a finely ground pigment producing more effect than one coarsely ground. It has also been shown by Pro· fessor Helmholtz that, when light falls on a mixture of pigments, part of it is acted on by one pigment only and part of it by another, while a third portion is acted on by both pigments in succession before it is sent back to the eye, The two parts reflected directly from the pure pigments enter the eye together, and form a true mixture of colours; but the third portion, which has suffered absorption from both pigments, is often so considerable as to give its own character to the resulting tint. This is the explanation of the green tint produced by mixing most blue anel yellow pigments.

In studying the mixture of colours, we must avoid these sources of error, either by mixing the rays of light themselves, or by combining the impressions of colours within the eye by the rotation of coloured papers on a disc.

The speaker then stated what the opticians had discovered about colour. White light, according to Newton, consists of a great number of different kinds of coloured light, which can be separated by a prism, Newton divided these into seven classes; but we now recognise many thousand distinct kinds of light in the spectrum, none of which can be shown to be a compound of more elementary rays. If we accept the theory that light is an undulation, then, as there are undulations of every different period from the one end of the spectrum to the other, there are an infinite number of possible kinds of light, no one of which can be regarded as compounded of any others.

Physical optics docs not lead us to any theory of three primary colours, but leaves us in possession of an infinite number of pure rays, with an infinitely more infinite number of compound beams of light, each containing any proportions of any number of the pure rays.

These beams of light, passing through the transparent parts of the eye, fall on a sensitive membrane, and we become aware of various colours. We know that the colour we see depends on the nature of the light; but the opticians say there are an infinite number of kinds of light, while the painters, and all who pay attention to what they see, tell us that they can account for all actual colours by supposing them mixtures of three primary colours.

The speaker then next drew attention to the physiological difficulties in accounting for the perception of colour. Some have supposed that the different kinds of light are distinguished by the time of their vibration. There are about 447 billions of vibrations of red light in a second, and 577 billions of vibrations of green light in the same time. It is certainly not by any mental process of which we are conscious that we distinguish between these infinitesimal portions of time, and it is difficult to conceive any mechanism by which the vibrations could be counted so that we should become conscious of the results, especially when many rays of different periods of vibration act on the same part of the eye at once.

Besides, all the evidence we have on the nature of nervous action goes to prove that whatever be the nature of the agent which excites a nerve, the sensation will differ only in being more or less acute. By acting on a nerve in various ways we may produce the faintest sensation or the most violent pain; but if the intensity of the sensation be the same, its quality must be the same.

Now, we perceive by our eyes a faint red light which may be made stronger and stronger till our eyes are dazzled. We may then perform the same experiment with a green light or a blue light. We shall thus see that our sensation of colour may differ in other ways, besides in being stronger or fainter. The sensation of colour, therefore, cannot be due to one nerve only.

The speaker then proceeded to state the theory of Dr. Thomas Yonng, as the only theory which completely reconciles these difficulties in accounting for the perception of colour.

Young supposes that the eye is provided with three distinct sets of nervous fibres, each set extending over the whole sensitive surface of the eye. Each of these three systems of nerves, when excited, gives us a different sensation. One of them, which gives us the sensation we call red, is excited most by the red rays, but also by the orange and yellow, and slightly by the violet; another is acted on by the green rays, but also by the orange and yellow, and part of the blue; while the third is acted on by the blue and violet rays.

If we could excite one of these sets of nerves without acting on the others, we should have the pure sensation corresponding to that set of nerves. This would be truly a primary colour, whether the nerve were excited by pure or by compound light, or even by the action of pressure or disease.

If such experiments could be made, we should be able to see the primary colours separately, and to deselibe their appearance by reference to the scale of colours in the spectrum.

But we have no direct consciousness of the contrivances of our own bodies, and we never feel any sensation which is not infinitely complex, so that we can never know directly how many sensations are combined when we see a colour. Still less can we isolate one or more sensations by artificial means, so that in general when a ray enters the eye, though it should be one of the pure rays of the spectrum, it may excite more than one of the three sets of nerves, and thus produce a compound sensation.

The terms simple and compound, therefore, as applied to colour sensation, have by no means the same meaning as they have when applied to a ray of light.

The speaker then stated some of the consequences of Young's theory, and described tbe tests to which he had subjected it:-

1st. There are three primary colours.

2nd. Every colour is either a primary colour or a mixture of primary colours.

3rd. Four colours may always be arranged in one of two ways. Either one of them is a mixture of the other three, or a mixture of two of them can be found identical with a mixture of the other two.

4th. These results may be stated in the form of colour-equations, giving the numerical value of the amount of each colour entering into any mixture. By means of the colour top, such equations can be obtained for coloured papers, and they may be obtained with a degree of accuracy showing that the colour-judgment of the eye may be rendered very perfect.

The speaker had tested in this way more than 100 different pigments and mixtures, and had found the results agree with tho theory of three primaries in every case. He had also examined all the colours of the spectrum with the same result.

The experiments with pigments do not indicate what colours are to be considered as primary; but experiments on the prismatic spectrum show that all the colours of the spectrum, and therefore all the colours in nature, are equivalent to mixtures of three colours of the spectrum itself, namely, red, green (near the line E), and blue (near the line G). Yellow was found to be a mixture of redl and green.

The speaker, assuming red, green, and blue as primary colours, then exhibited them on a screen by means of three magic lanterns before which were placed glass troughs containing respectively sulphocyanide of iron, chloride of copper, and ammoniated copper.

A triangle was thus illuminated, so that the pure colours appeared at its angles, while the rest of the triangle contained the various mixtures of the colours as in Young's triangle of colour.

The graduated intensity of the primary colours in different parts of the spectrum was exhibited by three coloured images, which, when superposed on the screen, gave an artificial representation of the spectrum.

Three photographs of a coloured ribbon taken through the three coloured solutions respectively were introduced into the camera, giving images representing the red, the green, and the blue parts separately, as they would be seen by each of Young's three sets of nerves separately. When these were superposed, a coloured image was seen, which, if the red and green images had been as fully photographed as the hlue, would have been a truly-coloured image of the ribbon. By finding photographic materials more sensitive to the less refrangible rays, the representation of the colours of objects migbt be greatly improved.

The speaker then proceeded to exhibit mixtures of the colours of the pure spectrum. Light from the electric lamp was passed through a narrow slit, a lens and a prism, so as to throw a pure spectrum on a screen containing three moveable slits, through which three distinct portions of the spectrum were suffered to pass. These portions were concentrated by a lens on a screen at a distance, forming a large, uniformly coloured image of the prism.

When the whole spectrum was allowed to pass, this image was white, as in Newton 's experiment of combining the rays of the spectrum. When portions of the spectrum were allowed to pass through the moveable slits, tbe image was uniformly illuminated with a mixture of the corresponding colours. In order to see these colours separately another lens was placed between the moveable slits and the screen. A magnified image of the slits was thus thrown on the screen, each slit showing, by its colour and its breadth, the quality and quantity of the colour which it suffered to pass. Several colours were thus exhibited, first separately, and then in combination. Red and blue, for instance, produced purple; red and green produced yellow; blue and yellow produced a pale pink; red, blue, and green produced white; and red and a bluish green near the line F produced a colour which appears very different to different eyes.

The speaker concluded by stating the peculiarities of colour blind vision, and by showing that tbe investigation into the theory of colour is truly a physiological inquiry, and that it requires the observations and testimony of persons of every kind in order to discover and explain the various peculiarities of vision.