ART. 349 - On the Sensibility of the Eye to Variations of Wave-Length in the Yellow Region of the Spectrum

Summary

Dr Edridge-Green has introduced a method of classifying colour-vision by determining the number of separate parts or divisions in the spectrum within each of which the observer can perceive no colour difference. Movable screens are provided in the focal plane of the spectroscopic telescope, by which the part admitted to the eye is limited and the limits measured in terms of wave-length. Beginning at the extreme visible red, more and more of the spectrum is admitted until a change of colour (not merely of brightness) is just perceptible. This gives the first division. The second division starts from the place just determined, and is limited in the direction of shorter wave-length by the same condition. In this way the whole spectrum is divided into a number of contiguous divisions, or patches, which Dr Edridge-Green terms monochromatic. It will be observed that the delimitation of these patches includes an arbitrary element depending on the point from which the start is made—in this case the extreme red.