"With these standards to work from, I undertook to determine the color analysis of certain of our common flowers. The following results, will, I think, be interesting to botanists. The numbers given indicate per cent. of color required to produce the hue of the flower:—
| Common forsythia, | F. viridissima: | Pure spectrum yellow. | |||
| Fringed polygala, | P. paucifolia: | R. 48, | V. 52. | ||
| Wistaria, | W. frutescens, wings: | R. 11, | V. 89. | ||
| Wistaria, | W. frutescens, standard: | R. 9, | V. 79, | W. 12. | |
| Flowering quince, | Cydonia japonica: | R. 95, | V. 2, | W. 3. | |
| Wild cranesbill, | Geranium maculatum: | R. 28, | V. 66, | W. 6. | |
The variations of color in the early summer foliage is also interesting. The following analyses are for the upper side of fresh and well developed healthy leaves. It is not impossible that a little attention to these variations in the color of foliage on the part of artists would save us the annoyance of some of the abominable green which we so often see in the pictures of artists of good reputation:—
| White oak: | Y. 7. 5, | G. 11 .5, | N. 81. | ||
| Apple: | Y. 5, | G. 13, | W. 2, | N. 80. | |
| Copper beech: | R. 17, | V. 2, | N. 81. | ||
| Hemlock: | Y. 2, | G. 9, | N. 89. | ||
| White pine: | Y. 2. 5, | G. 11, | N. 86. 5. | ||
| White birch: | Y. 5. 5, | G. 11. 5, | W. 1, | N. 82. | |
| Hornbeam: | Y. 5. 5, | G. 12. 5, | N. 82. | ||
| Shagbark hickory: | Y.4.5, | G.9.5, | N.86. |
These analyses were made in a moderately strong diffused light with Maxwell disks of the standard hues referred to above."
These are but a few of the numerous flowers the colors of which may be perfectly imitated and consequently analyzed and named with the color wheel or the top. In fact for individual work in natural history the top is more convenient than the wheel and sufficiently accurate for all practical purposes, while it is a very fascinating occupation for child or adult.
In the use of disks for analyzing colors it must be remembered that every material color is some quality of some color in the spectrum circuit, and therefore may be matched with not more than two standard disks, either alone or with white or black or both. If more than two color disks, besides white and black, are used they will neutralize each other more or less, and a neutral gray or a gray and some spectrum color will be the result. For example, if yellow and blue in nearly equal parts are introduced in connection with red and orange, the yellow and blue being nearly complimentary to each other will produce practically a neutral gray, and the result will be the same as if only red, orange, white and black were used.
Fig. 64.
Owing to the recent advances in the art of dyeing there are some textile goods which are too intense in color to be exactly imitated by the disk standards, but this fact need not prevent a practical analysis of such colors, because by very slightly reducing with white the color to be examined the same color is retained, the modification making it, of course, somewhat lighter. Fig. 64, showing a small circle representing a disk of the material mounted on thick paper, illustrates this statement. Suppose we have a piece of rich brown cloth, so intense in color that when red, orange and black are combined in the proportions of R. 22, O. 16, N. 62, the material is still a little richer in color than can be made with the disks of the color wheel. If we introduce a small amount of white into the brown of the material we may hope to match it with the disks and this may be done by cutting a bit of fairly heavy white paper in the form shown in the diagram and loosening the nut of the color wheel slightly, after which we insert the point of the triangle under the nut so that when tightened the white paper may be held in front of the brown disk, as in the illustration. Trim the outer end even with the disk and then rotate. If the effect of the white is too great trim off a little from the side of the white paper to make it narrower, until a perfect match is secured.