Page:A color notation (Munsell).djvu/87

graphs 98, 99, which was shown to be impracticable, but whose ideal conditions it follows as far as the limitations of pigments permit.

(130) Besides its value in education as setting all our color notions in order, and supplying a simple method for their clear expression, it promises to do away with much of the misunder- standing that accompanies the every-day use of color.

(131) Popular color names are incongruous, irrational, and often ludicrous. One must smile in reading the list of 25 steps in a scale of blue, made by Schiffer-Muller in 1772 :—

1. 1. White pure.
   2. White silvery or pearly.
   3. White milky.
2. 1. Bluish white.
   2. Pearly white.
   3. Watery white.
3. 1. Blue being born.
4. 1. Blue dying or pale.
5. 1. Mignon blue.
6. 1. Celestial blue, or sky-color.
7. 1. Azure, or ultramarine.
   2. Complete or perfect blue.
   3. Fine or queen blue.
8. 1. Covert blue or turquoise.
9. 1. King blue (deep).
10. 1. Light brown blue or indigo.
11. 1. Persian blue or woad flower.
    2. Forge or steel blue.
    3. Livid blue.
12. 1. Blackish blue.
    2. Hellish blue.
    3. Black-blue.
13. 1. Blue-black or charcoal.
    2. Velvet black.
    3. Jet black.

The advantage of spacing these 25 colors in 13 groups, some with three and others with but one example, is not apparent; nor why ultramarine should be several steps above turquoise, for the reverse is generally true. Besides which the hue of turquoise is greenish, while that of ultramarine is purplish, but the list cannot show this; and the remarkable statement that one kind of blue is “hellish,” while another is “celestial,” should rest upon an experience that few can claim. Failing to define color-value and color-hue, the list gives no hint of color-strength, except at