OBJECTS REALLY OF NO COLOUR.
A body appears to be of the colour which it reflects; as we see it only by reflected rays, it can but appear of the colour of those rays. Thus grass is green because it absorbs all except the green rays. Flowers, in the same manner, reflect the various colours of which they appear to us: the rose, the red rays; the violet, the blue; the daffodil, the yellow, &c. But these are not the permanent colours of the grass and flowers; for wherever you see these colours, the objects must be illuminated; and light, from whatever source it proceeds, is of the same nature, composed of the various coloured rays which paint the grass, the flowers, and every coloured object in nature. Objects in the dark have no colour, or are black, which is the same thing. You can never see objects without light. Light is composed of colours, therefore there can be no light without colours; and though every object is black or without colour in the dark, it becomes coloured as soon as it becomes visible.