Show Color Actually an n Agent for Good or Evil in Your Life By Dr Leonard K Keene ene Hirshberg A A. A B. B M. M A. A M. M D. D Scientists now tell us that 35 per percent percent percent cent of ot all knowledge the human mind possesses comes through the eye And the greater proportion of this eye knowledge comes through color Leaving Leaving Leaving Leav Leav- ing out the th printed page which page which In one sense Is form form all all eye knowledge comes through either form or color As an illustration of the reaction of the mind to form torm and color let us take the following Suppose some one sends a patient a bunch of roses roses and marguerites How lear clear and vigorous the contrast of the red and white h how w wholesome and vital are ae they In their suggestiveness and what quiet messengers messengers messengers mes mes- of good cheer I But If these same flowers had been woven Into the me form of a funeral wreath they might scare a a. sick mind to to death The main question is how do people In normal health react to color I WHAT COLOR MAY MEAN That they do react is proved by the fact that there has been invented and used for experimentation a device which consists of an attachment that records the fluctuations of the pulse a as a person is subjected to various I II colors depending upon whether the I color depresses or excites The fluctuations fluctuations fluctuations recorded are amazing Color Coor has become even a part of the warp and woof of the English lan Ian guage Thus we say a red-letter red day as blue as indigo black Monday Monday Monday Mon Mon- day a brown study a drab day and a greenhorn These words would not have come Into the language If the the- effect of color was not common heritage The colors used by Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI were no more accidental tal than those used by Henry VIII VilI or Queen Elizabeth The tints and subtleties subtleties subtleties subtle subtle- ties were characteristic of the lives lifes and times of Louis XVI as were the virile and direct pure colors o of red yellow and blue Indicative of the times and tastes of Henry VIII Imagine Queen Elizabeth In a Marie MarJe Antoinette room She would have used her very direct and voluble English not sufficiently sufficiently elegant to print here We can easily imagine how Marie l Antoinette in an Elizabethan castle would have gone out as a mouse under a vacuum By such extreme historical cases do dowe dowe dowe we realize the truth of the reaction of the the mind to color But the best witness witness witness wit wit- ness is the doctors doctor's experiences and If It I were to quote freely from my notebook of the effect of color upon my various patients the entire article Wl would not suffice One patient was I Johns Hopkins University made violently nauseated when su sub subjected to a certain tone of red violet Two others full blooded men presidents presidents presidents dents of great corporations cannot work with any repose of mind at home or in i the office If it not surrounded by blue Both of these men are multimillionaires multimillionaires multimillionaires multi multi- millionaires neither is effeminate and both control millions which they could not do If they were not men of power and ability Therefore there is nothing fantastic about the following illustration One woman had a gray room done in panels a room formal modern Severe se seI severe se- se vere cold lifeless She is naturally talkative cheerful che and bright But I when in this room she finds herself stifled stifled- and ill III at ease She painted the wall a a. different color and put in bright chintzes and to her surprise became chatty and even brilliant All of the foregoing In reference to the eye has been along the line of esthetics which of cours forms the basis of this article but a most Interesting interesting interesting inter Inter- esting article could be written on eye eyeStrain eyestrain eyestrain strain from the physical rather than from the psychological standpoint HOW YOU REACT You cannot say to a person Philadelphia Philadelphia Phila delphia New NewYork York or Boston and get the same reaction The reaction of ot each place may be different upon various minds but no two people can think of Philadelphia and New York as the same The mental picture is bound to o be different You cannot say Annapolis and West Vest Point and get the same mental reaction When you say sar Wall Wal street there mere Is not brought to mind the picture of a church at the end of a street but rather we think of finance pleasantly or unpleasantly You react to people There are certain certain tam tain people in presence you can be but a few few- moments without feeling sucked as dry as a a. bone They act upon you like vampires when Then there are people with whom you come Jn In In contact for only a moment who Impress impress impress im Im- im- im press you with a sense of vitality and kindness Your prejudices likes and dislikes and friendships are often otten based on nothing tangible It Is not what the people say and oftentimes not what they do but what you think they are Why you think they are a certain thing it would be almost impossible im- im Impossible Impossible Im Im- possible for you to analyze or oc state You are merely conscious of a reaction reaction tion pleasant or unpleasant a reaction which has haa come though your senses probably through the eye perhaps through h color associations I |